


Traditionally Non-Traditional

by Angelwithwingsoffire



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Actor Derek, Actress Erica, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Depression warning, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Youtuber Lydia, Youtuber Stiles, discussed in chap 13, everybody human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-06 21:44:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4237707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelwithwingsoffire/pseuds/Angelwithwingsoffire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles Stilinski has been looking forward to two things his entire life: Going to San Diego Comic Con and cosplaying his favorite characters ever and meeting his soulmate, the person he is destined to meet and either fall in love with or be best friends forever with. He hopes its the first option. But he never, in all those years, thought it both of those would happen at the same time, or that he'd be one of those lucky/unlucky people who are soulbonded to a celebrity. </p><p>AKA This is the story of a Youtuber and an Actor who have a long journey ahead of them before they figure out just what destiny has in story for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic aims to updated whenever there is a new episode of teen wolf airing throughout season five as I'm not watching it and need something to do with my time.

Stiles was quite literally vibrating with excitement. This was the day, at long last, that Stiles Stilinski would finally get to go to Comic Con and he may or may not have been up all night bouncing around the hotel room because there was no way in hell he was going to be able to sleep with the knowledge that for the next four days he would get to dress up in the four different cosplays he had designed and made himself over the last four months and walk the floor and go to panels, autograph sessions, and photo ops with some of his absolute favorite actors and actresses. It was safe to say that he was excited.

“Guys, I am literally so excited.” Stiles grinned at the camera he was holding. “Day one of my first San Diego Comic Con is about to begin and I can barely stay calm. I didn’t sleep like at all last night which I’m sure I’ll regret later but right now there are no regrets whatsoever!” Stiles glanced at the clock. “It’s one minute to eight and at eight I am officially allowed to wake Scott because he threatened to kill me if I woke him up before then.”

As soon as the clock on the wall hit eight o’clock, Stiles flew through the doorway and landed on the bed in the small bedroom off the main room that Scott had claimed for himself, knowing his best friend would be up till all hours of the night with all his excitement.

“SCOTT!” Stiles screamed, landing on top of his oldest and best friend.

“I am going to stab you.” Scott groaned, blinking sleep from his. “It’s exactly eight, isn’t it?”

Stiles grinned at him and bounced on his back, pointing the camera at Scott now. “Time to get up! We have to get ready! We can’t be late!”

“We won’t be late.” Scott sighed. They’d had this conversation a lot in the past two days as Stiles tried to make Scott get up at six in the morning to be there at nine-thirty to meet their friends. Scott had made him swear to let him sleep until at least eight.

“GET UP!” Stiles leaned over to shout in Scott’s ear.

Scott shoved his friend off the bed. “Asshole.”

Stiles just laughed and scrambled to his feet. “I’ll make breakfast!”

Scott rolled onto his back with a groan as Stiles left. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

He could hear Stiles’s laughs from the kitchen as he talked to the camera.

Scott took one more second to hate his best friend with everything he had before groaning one more time and forcing himself out of bed. He may not be a morning person, but he was looking forward to this just as much as Stiles was. And thanks to Stiles’s vlogging habits on Youtube, everything would be recorded for them to look back on when they’re old and gray.

***

“Stiles!”

Stiles looked up at the sound of the familiar voice just in time to see a flash of black before he had an armful of flesh, leather, and metal. “Hey there Red.” He grinned, spinning her around for a second before setting her down.

Lydia grinned at him. “I don’t have red hair today, Stiles.”

“Right.” Stiles laughed. “I apologize o, Soldier of Winter.”

Lydia laughed, flicking the short black hair of her wig out of her face and then stepping back so he could get a better look at her outfit. “You like?”

“Definitely.” Stiles grinned. Lydia had feminized the Winter Soldier into the deadliest looking female in the world. It fit her perfectly. 

“You’re the perfect Winter Soldier to Stiles’s Captain America.” Scott assured her, stepping forward with his own partner in crime, Allison dressed as the Hawkeye counterpart to Scott’s Black Widow. That had taken some convincing but Scott looked great and Allison looked even greater. Both of them had made sure that their costumes left their left forearms bare, displaying the simple, two-circle target with an arrow extending from the center and going down to their wrist that was stark and dark against their skin, only adding to their image of the perfect Hawkeye/Black Widow couple’s cosplay. Stiles and Lydia had no such marks.

“We’re awesome.” Stiles declared happily. “Now we just need two more friends to be Thor and Tony.”

“We don’t have any more friends weird enough to do this.” Scott reminded him.

“We’ll find some.” Stiles assured him. “There are nerds literally everywhere. We’ll find two to finish our group out.”

Lydia rolled her eyes, linking arms with her partner. “Well let’s begin our search then.”

Stiles turned the camera back on himself from focusing on Lydia and Allison’s cosplays. “Aren’t these two just amazing?”

“No need to start buttering us up now.” Lydia told him, holding up her own camera. “I plan to get all your embarrassment on tape for the rest of this weekend.”

***

Two hours later and they’d met many Thors and Tonys and taken pictures with all of them as well as letting other people take pictures of the four of them. Everyone seemed to love their costumes, especially Lydia’s Winter Soldier outfit. They were a hit. But the day was about to get better. Lydia had managed to get a hold of four tickets to the sold out panel of the entire cast of the biggest movie of the year, _The Warriors Three_ , including its star, Derek Hale. Stiles was ready to explode with excitement.

“Please stay conscious.” Scott begged him as they queued up to go into the hall.

Stiles glared at him. “Don’t even.”

“Stiles we all know how much you love him.” Lydia smiled fondly.

“Just because he’s hot _and_ adorably awkward in interviews that I watch all the time does not mean I love him.” Stiles told her.

Lydia raised an eyebrow in a pointed look.

“Don’t worry bro.” A guy in front of him turned around to say. “Everyone would go a little bit gay for that man.”

Stiles smiled happily and looked at Lydia.

Lydia just rolled her eyes. They all knew the truth, even if Stiles wasn’t willing to admit it out loud. She looked at the camera she was holding up. “Isn’t Stiles adorably ignorant?”

“Shut up.” Stiles told her, pushing her should and turning his own camera on himself. “Isn’t she so mean to me?”

“You love me.” Lydia grinned.

“God only knows why.” Stiles sighed, rolling his eyes at the camera.

“This is going to be awesome.” Allison said, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. “Erica is one of the best action women of this generation and she’s here! I’m going to see my idol!”

“And on Sunday you get to meet her.” Scott reminded her with a grin.

Allison squealed in excitement. “I can’t wait!”

“We need to move.” Lydia said, smiling at her best friend’s excitement. “The line’s moving.”

Stiles and Allison squealed and grabbed each other in excitement.

Scott and Lydia looked at each. “Idiots.” They said together.

“And yet you love us.” Stiles grinned.

“God only knows why.” Lydia muttered, repeating Stiles’s words as she put her camera away and pushed them forward and towards the door. “Now get your idiotic butts in there.”

Stiles and Allison took no offense in the insult, more concerned about doing what she said and hurry forward and into the hall.

***

“Look at him.” Stiles sighed as Derek was introduced and walked onto the stage, waving to the ground as it exploded with applause.

“You’re so in love.” Allison teased.

“Like you didn’t do the exact same thing when Erica came on stage.” Stiles reminded her.

Allison shrugged, looking at the blonde bombshell to Derek’s right, having come out just before him. “At least I admit that I’d totally shack up with her at any given time. I’m totes cool being bi as fuck.”

Stiles took a second to glare at her before turning back to the stage. “I hate you.”

Allison laughed. “No you don’t. You’d miss your Hawkeye too much.”

Stiles had to give a shrug at that. “Touché.”

“Would you shut up?” Scott asked. “They’re about to start asking questions.”

Stiles and Allison immediately shut up, turning their entire attention to the panel in front of them, ready to catch every single word and action their idols made or said.

***

“This was the best day of my life.” Stiles sighed, collapsing onto the bed in the hotel room.

Scott snorted and shoved his arm out of the way to lie down next to him. “We still have three more days ahead of us.”

Stiles sighed happily. “I can’t wait.”

“We’re not going to be able to walk by the end of this weekend.” Scott pointed out to him.

“I don’t care.” Stiles laughed. “I have nowhere I need to go on Monday _or_ Tuesday.”

“I have to drive your fat ass home to get unpacked and repacked for our trip.”

Stiles shrugged. “Sounds like a personal problem.”

Scott shoved his shoulder. “Asshole.”

“I love you too.” Stiles grinned.

“Get changed and go to sleep you two.” Lydia ordered them, sticking her head out of the side room she was now sharing with Allison after the two of them moved in to the hotel room they were all sharing. “We have a long few days ahead of us and you two will need all the sleep you can get if you’re going to keep up with the two of us.”

Stiles looked over at her. “You’re going to run us ragged, aren’t you?”

Lydia grinned. “You have no idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cosplays this chapter were inspired by [this amazing fem!Winter Soldier cosplay](http://littlewolfoffenris.tumblr.com/post/99637537210/making-of-my-fem-winter-soldier-cosplay-a-story) I saw on tumblr!


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, Stiles was sore literally _everywhere_ and he wasn’t sure if his arm would ever stop aching from holding his camera up so much, but he didn’t care. Today was going to be the best day of his life because, not only was it the last day of the convention and the day for his final and most amazing cosplay, but it was also the day that he was going to get to _meet_ his idol, and secret-not-so-secret crush, Derek _fucking_ Hale. It was safe to say that Stiles was very, _very_ excited. He accidently woke Scott up at seven instead of eight but he was wide awake and he needed someone to _talk to_. If he even such as attempted to go into the girls’ room, he would find himself without his private bits. So Scott was his only option.

“I am going to kill you.” Scott declared, glaring at him bleary eyed from under the blankets.

Stiles whined. “What if he thinks I’m weird?”

“Stiles.” Scott groaned. “He’s not going to care.”

“But what if?”

“Stiles, his first impression of you will not matter because by this time tomorrow, he won’t even remember your name.”

“Don’t.” Stiles told him, voice breaking.

“Sorry.” Scott shrugged. “But you know it’s true.”

“I don’t care.” Stiles said, shaking his head. “Let me at least live in my fantasies.”

Scott sighed, reaching out to grab Stiles’s wrist and turn it over to show Stiles his blank forearm. “This isn’t going to change unless you accept that he isn’t it.”

“I don’t care.” Stiles said again, turning his arm over again. “I can have one more day of the dream.”

Scott nodded. “Just afterwards, promise me that you’ll try.”

Stiles shrugged. “I’ll see.”

“You’re twenty-two Stiles, this is the most likely year for you to find your soulmate.” Scott reminded him. “Don’t let an obsession with an actor get in the way of that.”

“It’s only July.” Stiles reminded him. “I have plenty of time if he isn’t it.”

“I just don’t want you getting hurt.” Scott told him.

“I’ll be fine.” Stiles assured him. “But we should get up now and go get breakfast for the girls so they’ll forgive me for waking them up at eight.”

Scott groaned and rolled his eyes but nodded and got up. “Lydia will kill you if you wake her up without food at the ready.”

Stiles nodded in agreement. “Well then we need to go downstairs and get them breakfast because I refuse to be slaughtered before I get to meet Derek Hale.”

Scott laughed. “Only after?”

“Only after.” Stiles grinned.

“Then let’s get breakfast.”

***

When they got back up to the room with two trays of breakfast food for the girls, the room was still silent.

“Go wake up the girls.” Stiles ordered.

“Why me?!”

“Allison will at least be more likely to protect me from Lydia than she is to protect you.”

Scott sighed. “Fine.”

Stiles nodded. “I’ll set up the food.”

Stiles set the trays down on the table and started unstacking them, nearly toppling over a pile of pancakes as he heard a scream from the side bedroom before Scott came running back up, panting loudly.

“They’re up.” He gasped.

“You got kicked, didn’t you?” Stiles asked, smirking at Scott as he sat on the bed and clutched his shin.

“Shut up.” Scott told him.

“My lips are sealed.” Stiles said, miming zipping his lips shut.

“Good.” Lydia declared, coming out of the side bedroom already looking gorgeous. “Stay that way and you might live through breakfast.”

“She means to say thank you for going to get us food.” Allison smiled, coming out after her.

“How do you two look so gorgeous right after waking up?” Stiles demanded, staring in awe at their perfect hair and bagless eyes.

“We’re goddesses.” Lydia told him. “Goddesses that will beat your ass if you don’t get away from our breakfast.”

Stiles laughed but stepped back, snagging half a bagel before going to join Scott on the bed. “Today is going to be awesome.”

“You’ve said that already.” Scott smirked.

“I have to say it again.” Stiles told him.

“And I have to agree.” Allison said, stacking her plate up with food. “We get to meet Erica today!”

“And Derek.” Stiles reminded her.

“And Derek.” She conceded. “But I’m totally more excited to meet Erica.”

“Same here.” Lydia agreed, nicer now that she’d gotten some food in her. “She’s a total badass.”

“Derek is too.” Stiles defended.

“But Erica’s a woman.” Allison pointed out. “Automatically making her badassness even more badass because she does it all in heels.”

“I concede.” Stiles said, bowing his head.

Lydia and Allison smiled.

“You’ve almost made up for waking us up.” Lydia told him.

“Scott woke you up!” Stiles protested.

“And we know that was under your order.” Allison smiled at him. “So, you get the blame.”

“Damn.” Stiles sighed. “Well, I tried.”

“You tried very well.” Scott assured him. “But you should’ve known our goddess best female friends are a thousand times smarter than you.”

Lydia and Allison laughed and Stiles blushed.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Lydia smirked, taking a bite of her banana. “Boys, go get ready. Allison and I will finish up and then we’ll get dressed as well and then we can get going.”

Stiles squealed, embarrassment entirely out the window as his excitement took hold again.

Scott covered his ear closest to Stiles and winced a little at the sound. “That is the worst sound you have ever made.”

Stiles grinned. “I’m going to make a lot worse today.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Scott sighed. “There’s a reason I brought earplugs for today.”

***

Stiles was yet again another hit on the convention floor. Everyone wanted to get pictures of/with him, dressed as his version of Spiderman. He’d encountered many Deadpools, including the amazing D-Piddy, and taken pictures with all of them. D-Piddy even asked him to be part of his video for the convention and Stiles had nearly exploded before he even got to say yes. Scott had just laughed and said yes for him. He’d even met a few people that knew him from Youtube and gotten to talk to them for a while before they had to run.

“You’re a hit.” Lydia grinned, looping her arm in his and moving her camera so the frame included both of them.

“I know.” Stiles grinned, pulling his half mask down to give his face a breather and pushing his goggles up onto his forehead to give his eyes a break. His own camera was at his side, hanging from its strap around his wrist. “This is so much fun.”

“Aren’t you glad we decided to splurge on all four days?” Scott asked, throwing an arm around his best friend’s shoulders.

“Definitely.” Stiles grinned. Then he glanced at the picture the four of them made: Lydia dressed as Queen Guinevere from BBC’s _Merlin_ , Allison on the other side of her dressed as her loyal husband King Arthur, Stiles dressed as a Spiderman that actually looked like the costume a teenage boy would make, and Scott dressed as Link, and laughed.

“What?” Allison laughed.

“We make a great picture.” Stiles grinned.

The other three looked at their group and grinned.

“We make a great group.” Scott declared. “The perfect crime fighting team.”

“Now if only we could get our Spiderman to stop being scared off heights.” Lydia smirked.

“Hey!” Stiles protested. “I am fine with heights so long as something is holding me up!”

“You’ve got your webs.” Allison laughed.

“Hell no.” Stiles told her. “I may be Spiderman but I fly on no webs.”

“Useless.” Scott sighed. “Completely useless.”

“Says the Link who doesn’t know how to use a sword.” Stiles pointed out.

Scott shrugged. “At least I can sorta do it. You’d shit yourself before you even started.”

“And we are stopping there because that is not an image I need in my head.” Lydia declared.

“Yes Your Majesty.” Stiles and Scott said in unison.

They could hear people around them laughing at the four of them, but none of them cared. They knew they were weird and they were perfectly okay with getting some laughs out of people, it meant they were making someone’s day even better than it already was.

Lydia turned the camera on herself. “You know, I could get used to being called that.”

“How much longer until we need to get in line for Erica?” Allison asked.

Lydia checked her phone. “We can go now if we want good spots.”

“Let’s go then!” Allison decided.

Stiles and Scott laughed.

“You heard her.” Scott grinned. “Let’s go.”

Half an hour later and the little light went on and everyone standing in line around them cheered. Erica’s photo op had officially started.

“I can’t wait.” Allison grinned, biting her lip in excitement.

“What are you going to get?” Lydia asked her, camera off as she’d already recorded them excitedly waiting in line.

“I honestly just want a hug.” Allison told her. “For the actual picture I really have no idea. Whatever happens I guess.”

“Just don’t pass out on us.” Stiles told her.

“I won’t.” Allison grinned. “Are we doing my solo and then you guys or vice versa?”

“You can go first and then us.” Scott told her. “Otherwise we’ll be awkwardly standing around waiting for you to finish.”

“That sounded really bad Scottie boy.” Stiles snorted.

“Trust you to hear the innuendo.” Lydia sighed.

“I wouldn’t be a teenaged!Spierman without it!” Stiles said happily.

“You’re going to be the death of me.” Scott decided.

“No dying.” Allison told him. “I am not dealing with that.”

“Yes Sir.” Scott smirked.

Allison rolled her eyes, punching Scott’s shoulder. “Shut up.”

“We’re moving.” Lydia said, looking forward.

Allison squealed. “We’re next!”

“Calm your tits.” Lydia told her.

“No!” Allison declared, shaking her torso. It didn’t make her boobs jiggle as she was wearing a binder but the insinuation was there and Lydia sighed.

“You’re an idiot.”

“That’s why we get along.” Allison grinned. “You’re the beautiful brains and I’m the brawny beauty.”

“Perfectly in character.” Stiles grinned.

Both girls punched his shoulders.

“Ow!” He exclaimed.

“Don’t bruise him until after the photo ops.” Scott told them. “Wait till tonight.”

They both groaned but Allison’s turned into a squeal in happiness as the guard waved them forward.

Allison jumped forward first and held out her two tickets. “I’ve got one ticket for a solo photo op with her and then me and these three have tickets for a group one.”

The guard nodded, taking her tickets to look at them before handing them back. “Go on in and they’ll be in after you.”

Allison squealed before quickly composing herself and going inside.

“She’s really excited.” Scott smiled at the guard.

“She isn’t the only one.” The guard smiled back. “Erica’s a popular one with the girls. They like her pushing the stereotypes like she does.”

“She’s awesome.” Lydia agreed.

“I like the costume.” The guard said, nodding at Stiles.

Stiles grinned. “Three weeks of work around college classes and homework.”

“Impressive.” The guard nodded.

“Thanks.” Stiles grinned.

The guard smiled and reached up to touch his ear and then glanced inside the room. “They’re ready for you.”

Lydia bounced in happiness and handed all three of their tickets to him to check before he let them in.

Allison was standing next to Erica, looking like she was high on happiness.

“Guys!” She exclaimed. “She’s even better in person!”

Erica laughed. “I’m glad I lived up to expectations.”

“You exceeded them if she’s smiling that wide.” Scott assured her, coming over to hug Allison to try and calm her down.

“The soulmate, right? Scott?” Erica guessed.

Scott nodded. “That’s me.”

“And the unbonded best friends.” Erica concluded, looking at Stiles and Lydia. “I have to say, this is an impressive cosplay group you guys got going.”

“We all matched on Thursday.” Stiles told her. “We were the Avengers.”

“Well if you’ve been walking around in cosplays as good as these, it is quite a surprise none of you work in a costume department.”

Stiles shrugged. “Not my thing.”

“I prefer the center stage, not the background.” Lydia told her.

Scott shrugged. “I suck at costume making. Stiles made mine.”

“Yes I did.” Stiles said proudly.

“Are you seeing Derek later today?” Erica asked. “Because he’s going to love that Spiderman outfit you’ve got going on.”

Stiles grinned, immediately giddy. “Really?”

“He has a man crush on him.” Allison stage-whispered to Erica.

“Hey!” Stiles protested.

Erica laughed. “Yea, he’s a big nerd under the rough exterior. He’ll love it.”

Stiles was blushing bright red and had a silly grin on his face.

“Miss?” The photographer interrupted. “Apologies but we need to keep moving.”

“Of course.” Erica nodded. She looked at them. “We just doing a normal group shot?”

“The girls get to be next to you.” Scott said immediately.

“As if we’d allow anything else.” Lydia rolled her eyes.

Erica opened up her arms. “Let’s do this then.”

The group immediately gathered around and pressed in close for the picture, grinning wide.

After the camera flashed twice they pulled away, grinning.

“Thank you.” Allison told her with a grin. “It was amazing to meet you.”

“And you.” Erica grinned. “Have a great day. And have fun meeting Derek.”

“Oh, we will.” Scott grinned. “And don’t worry, we’ll keep Stiles conscious.”

“Stop it!” Stiles declared, hitting his best friend.

Scott just laughed as they were guided from the room, waving goodbye as they went. They could hear Erica laughing at them on the way out.

“I can’t believe that just happened.”  Allison laughed.

“It did.” Scott assured her. “And in a minute we’ll have the pictures to prove it.”

Allison sighed. “I can die happy now.”

“No dying.” Lydia told her. “Dying is not allowed at the convention. It was in the terms and conditions of the tickets.”

Scott laughed. “That’s great.”

“How long until we have to get in line for Derek?” Stiles demanded, looking at his watch.

“I’d say half an hour.” Lydia told him.

“Then let’s start working our way there.” Stiles decided. “I don’t want to get cut off.”

“We have tickets Stiles.” Scott reminded him. “We’re guaranteed an opportunity to get a photo.”

“Yes but I want to stop and hug him and I don’t want to be rushed along by some guards.” Stiles told him. “Allison got to talk to Erica and I want to talk to Derek.”

The other three sighed.

“You just want the chance to stare at him up close.” Scott told him.

Stiles shrugged, not even bothering to try and deny that it was one of reasons. “It’s a nice face.”

“Fine.” Lydia declared. “But we’re going slow. I need to find some art to take back with us for the dorm room.”

“We have all day for that.” Stiles whined.

“We’re going slow.” Lydia repeated, a hint of threat seeping into her voice.

Stiles sighed. “Yes ma’am.”

Lydia grinned. “Good. Then let’s get going.”

***

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god.”

“Stiles shut up.” Lydia ordered him.

“I can’t!” Stiles exclaimed, his body shaking so much he’d already given up on trying to film his excitement. It was a lost cause. “I’m about to meet and hug and talk to Derek _freaking_ Hale!”

“Can I knock him out?” Lydia asked, looking at Scott. She still had her camera out, filming the entire thing for posterity, finding Stiles’s enthusiasm to be hilarious.

“He’ll be fine afterwards.” Scott assured her. “He’s just a little excited about this. Has been since we got the tickets.”

“It’s more than a little excited.” Allison said, smiling fondly at her soulmate’s best friend. “And we all knew it was going to be like this so we have no right to start complaining now that it’s almost over.”

“My love for him will never be over.” Stiles declared.

“I’m going to punch you.” Lydia told him.

Stiles just grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet as the guard waved the group in front of them in. “We’re next!”

“Please don’t explode on him.” Scott begged. “I don’t want to have to explain that away.”

Stiles grinned. “No promises.”

Scott sighed, knowing that was the best he was going to get.

“Next.” The guard said, looking bored.

Lydia put her camera away and took out their tickets to for the group to give to the guard and Stiles rushed forward to hand him his other one.

“We’ve got a group shot but I’ve also got a solo one.” Stiles told him quickly.

“Fine.” The guard sighed. “You’ll do it after the group shot then.”

Stiles nodded, not caring about the slightly bored guard as he waved them through because he was about to meet _Derek Hale_. And _hug him_. This was officially the best day of his life.

“Hello!” Derek grinned as they walked in.

Stiles stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Derek. He was having a little trouble breathing.

“Stiles?” Scott asked softly.

“He’s gorgeous.” Stiles gasped.

The others, including Derek, laughed.

“I’m glad to know I’ve lived up to expectations.” Derek grinned at them. “That’s an impressive costume by the way.”

Stiles grinned and blushed. “Thanks.”

“You’re the one Erica mentioned, aren’t you?” Derek asked, looking at the four of them. “The mismatched group with the Spiderman cosplay she said I’d like.”

“That’s us.” Scott grinned. “This is Stiles, a very big fan of yours. He’s been excited for months to see you.”

Derek smiled. “Well, I’m glad to fulfill your dreams then.”

Stiles nodded dumbly.

“So what do we have then? A group shot or solos or both?”

“A group shot and then Stiles has a solo one.” Lydia answered, stepping forward.

“Sounds like a plan, Your Majesty.” Derek smiled, giving a small bow.

Lydia laughed. “There’s no need for that.”

Derek nodded. “Of course not, but it’s fun.”

“Sir, we need to keep moving.” The photographer said. “There’s quite a line to see you.”

“Of course.” Derek nodded. “I just get wrapped up in talking sometimes. How are we doing this?”

“Stiles next to you.” Allison declared, helping Scott shove the boy forward.

Stiles stumbled forward and nearly crashed into the floor before Derek caught him with a laugh and helped him stand up.

“Don’t worry dude.” Derek told him. “I’m just a normal guy.”

“Who is also amazing.” Stiles mumbled.

Derek laughed. “Only in some opinions.”

“It’s not an opinion.” Stiles told him. “It’s a fact. You played Jacob so well and I can’t wait for the next one because your sword work is just as amazing as you are.”

Derek snorted and it took Stiles a moment to realize what he said, blushing bright red as he got it.

“Sorry. Not like that.”

“It’s fine.” Derek assured him. “I’ve had girls making the same joke all day, except they all wanted to see it.”

“Sir.” The photographer called again.

Derek sighed. “Sorry Jason.”

“Nothing to be sorry about Sir.” Jason responded. “But the line’s getting anxious.” He told them, tapping his ear piece, through which someone was probably talking to him about the line.

“Well let’s do this then.” Derek smiled. He looked at the others in the group. “Ready?”

Everyone crowded around and grinned at the camera, Stiles moved his goggles and mask again so his face was clear in the picture. He was going to treasure this picture forever, almost as much as the solo one he was getting next.

“Got it.” Jason grinned.

“We’ll be right here.” Scott whispered to Stiles before the other three slid away again, leaving Stiles and Derek alone in front of the camera.

“What do you want to do?” Derek asked.

“Before we take the picture, can I hug you?” Stiles asked.

“Sure.” Derek smiled, opening his arms.

Stiles grinned and bit his lip to hold in an excited squeal as he stepped forward to hug Derek quickly before pulling away. “Thanks.”

“No thanks needed.” Derek assured him. “Picture?”

“Just together is fine.” Stiles told him.

“Alright.” Derek said, throwing an arm around Stiles’s shoulders and turning them to the camera.

Stiles hesitated for a moment before raising his arm to grab Derek’s opposite shoulder, memorizing the feeling of warmth next to him.

Derek and Stiles both grinned at the camera as it flashed and then they pulled away.

“Thanks.” Stiles said again. “You’re amazing.”

Derek smiled. “Glad to hear it.”

Stiles nodded, blushing a little again as he stepped away. “We’ll get going now so you can meet everyone else.”

“Good to meet you, Spiderman.”

Stiles was too distracted by blushing and ducking his head to notice the stool behind him until he was crashing into it. One thought of ‘I’m seriously about to embarrass myself in front of Derek freaking Hale’ flashed through his head before he was stopped midair. Stiles gasped, looking at what had stopped him. Derek had grabbed the front of his jacket.

“You alright?” Derek asked.

Stiles nodded, panting heavy. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Derek smiled. “It happens.”

“Way too often for me.” Stiles told him. He reached up with one hand to grab Derek’s bare forearm to balance himself as he pulled him back up to his feet but as soon as their skin connected and then, Derek and Stiles were both gasping in surprise and Derek accidently let go, sending Stiles crashing the rest of the way to the floor.

“Stiles?” “Sir?” Scott and Jason asked at the same time.

Derek and Stiles stared at each other.

“Stiles?” Scott asked again. “You okay?”

Stiles nodded, not breaking eye contact with Derek. “It’s you.” Stiles whispered in amazement.

“It’s you.” Derek whispered back.

“Stiles, what’s going on?” Lydia demanded. “We need to go so the next group can come in.”

“I can’t.” Stiles told her.

“Why not?” Allison asked, already feeling like she knew the answer.

Stiles got slowly to his feet, still watching Derek, and started taking his jacket off, letting it fall to the floor. Only then did he break eye contact with Derek, to look down at his left forearm, seeing the dark black oval sitting there, stark against his pale skin. “Holy shit.” He whispered.

“Stiles?” Scott’s jaw dropped. “Is that-?”

Stiles nodded and looked back at Derek. “Is this for real?”

“I think so.” Derek told him. “I don’t-I don’t know what to do now.”

Lydia strode forward, grabbing Stiles’s arm to look at it. Her eyes went wide and she looked between Stiles and Derek for a moment before sighing. “You can’t do anything in a normal way, can you Stilinski?”

Stiles smiled. “Never.”

“Stiles Stilinski?” Derek asked.

Stiles nodded. “Stiles is a nickname. My real name is unpronounceable Polish.”

Derek nodded. “Nice to meet you, Stiles Stilinski.”

“Nice to meet you too, Derek Hale.” Stiles grinned back. He still hadn’t fully comprehended what happened so he wasn’t freaking out yet, but he would soon enough.

“Holy mother of god my best friend’s soul-bonded to a movie star.” Scott gasped. “This can’t get any crazier, can it?”

“You’d be surprised.” Derek told him before looking at Stiles. “We should talk.”

“After your photo session.” Stiles told him. “I won’t let you leave those fans hanging.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Derek told him. “You and your friends can wait in the green room until I’m done. Seth can take you.” Derek said, nodding to a man in the corner none of them had notice until then.

Seth stepped forward. “Sir, I don’t think it’s wise for me to leave you.”

“They’re fangirls Seth, not killers.” Derek reminded him. “I’ll be alright. Take them to the green room and don’t let anyone kick them out. Okay?”

Seth nodded. “Of course.” He looked at the group. “Right this way then.”

“Come on Stiles.” Scott whispered, stepping forward to grab his friend. “We need to go.”

Stiles nodded, letting himself get pulled away, still staring at Derek until they left the room through the back door.

“Oh my god.” Stiles gasped, looking at Scott. “Did that just happen?”

Scott nodded. “Yes, yes it did.”

“And I’m?”

“Yep.”

“And he?”

“Yea.”

“Oh my god.”

“Yea I saw this coming.” Scott sighed. “Let’s get you sat down somewhere, okay? Before you pass out somewhere.”

Stiles nodded absent-mindedly. “I’m soulmates with Derek Hale.”

“Yes you are.”

“He’s my soulmate.”

“Yes, he is.”

“Oh my god.”

“You said that already.”

“ _Oh my_ _god_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cosplays this chapter were inspired by [this totally awesome Spiderman cosplay](http://andwhataflammableheart.tumblr.com/post/20452250399/rosy-higginss-reimagining-of-spider-mans) I saw on tumblr!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yea I think Monday nights are going to be updates for this one but it might change if my life changes.

“OH MY GOD!”

“Would you stop shouting that?!” Lydia demanded.

“I can’t!” Stiles exclaimed, turning to her, throwing his hands out. He hasn’t stopped moving since they got the green room and his mask, jacket, and goggles were gone, in Allison’s careful hands, so he could freak out without roasting himself. “My fucking soulmate is fucking _DEREK HALE_!”

“Stiles.” Allison groaned, rubbing her temple. “Stop. Please.”

Stiles sighed grumpily but he’s always been a softie for his best friend’s soulmate so he bit his lip and sat down. “I can’t believe this. It has to be a fluke. The marks will settle and they won’t match and we’ll just go on with our lives.”

“Stiles, there’s less than one percent of a chance that you and Derek aren’t soulmates.” Lydia reminded him gently. “Your marks activated at skin contact. You’re soulmates.”

“I can’t be.” Stiles whispered.

“You’re the one who was adamant that you wouldn’t start looking for them until after you met him.” Scott reminded him.

“That was just me putting off the commitment!” Stiles exclaimed. “I’m twenty-two! I haven’t even graduated college yet and I have no idea how my life is going to go! I don’t have time for a soulmate!”

Scott sighed. “Allison and I found time.”

“And you two are perfect for each other.” Stiles shot back. “I’m me and Derek’s – well Derek’s entirely out of my league.” He finished with a sigh. “How the hell am I supposed to be soulmates with him? Or _date_ him?”

“You’ll figure it out.” Allison assured him softly. “You’re meant to be together. Everything’ll fall into place. It always does.”

“Not for those unlucky enough to get stuck with a soulmate like mine.” Stiles muttered.

“You don’t mean that.” Scott said quickly.

“I do.” Stiles nodded. “He’s Derek Hale. He could have every girl in the world and at least half the guys. Why the hell would he want to date me? Why would _anyone_ want to date me? I’m just some failed Youtuber without a life.”

“You’re awesome!” Scott protested. “You have nearly 100,000 subscribers, Stiles!”

“Only because Lydia, with her nearly a million, did a video with me.” Stiles reminded him.

“They wouldn’t have followed you if they didn’t like you.” Lydia told him.

“They would because you told them to.” Stiles told her. “They love you. They don’t have to love me to follow me if they love you enough.”

“Stop it.” Scott told him, getting up and moving to sit next to Stiles on the couch. “You know I hate you talking like this.”

Stiles shrugged. “It’s just the truth.”

Scott glared at him. “Stop.”

“Fine.” Stiles sighed. “But I’m a little lower than usual knowing now that my soulmate is one of the most amazingly gorgeous and adorable men in the world and I pale in comparison. He only likes me today because I’m dressed like this.” Stiles waved at his outfit. “Erica even said so.”

“Erica said he’d like your cosplay, not that he would like you only because of it.” Scott told him.

The door burst open and there was a high-pitched squeal.

“YOU’RE DEREK’S SOULMATE!”

“Speak of the devil.” Lydia smirked.

Stiles shrunk back as Erica moved into the room, leaving the guard that was with her standing near the door as he closed it behind them.

“Well?!” She demanded.

“I’m not.” Stiles told her. “It’s just a mistake.”

“Bullshit.” Erica and Lydia said together.

“No man that hot is soul-bonded to an ugly bastard like me.” Stiles told them.

“Bullshit.” Erica repeated, squeezing down on the couch next to him. “You’re adorable.”

“Adorable, not attractive.” Stiles told her. “No one wants to fuck a puppy.”

Erica laughed. “Trust me, you’re plenty sexy too. Especially dressed like this.”

Stiles looked at her. “I look like a teenage boy.”

“You look like an exceedingly hot young man with a very nice ass.” Erica corrected him. “Trust me, I checked it out when you guys were leaving my photo op.”

“Erica!” Her guard exclaimed.

Erica waved her hand at him. “Oh shush Boyd, he’s Derek’s soulmate and these others are his friends. They’re cool. I can say things like that.”

“You don’t know how this is going to pan out.” Boyd reminded him.

Erica rolled her eyes. “You worry too much.”

“And you don’t worry enough.”

Erica grinned and looked back at Stiles. “He’s basically my opposite.” She told him. “But I love him.” She smiled, waving her left arm and showing the mark on it. It was in the shape of three slashes down her arm over the outline of a bite mark. It was well known that Erica was bonded to her bodyguard and there had been some blowback when it came out but Erica had shot down every insult someone tried to even insinuate about Boyd and he had shown himself to really not care at all. The media had died down pretty quick when they realized they would never get the reaction they wanted.

“Yea, you two are great together.” Stiles smiled. “But Derek and I aren’t meant to be.”

“You’re soulmates.”

“So are Kris Kardashian and Caitlyn Jenner.” Stiles told her. “You don’t see them getting along. They don’t even talk to each other, let alone get along.”

Erica groaned. “You’re one of those self-depreciating people, aren’t you?”

“Sorry?” Stiles tried, looking confused.

“It’s fine.” Erica smiled. “You’ll get along great with Derek.”

Stiles’s brow furrowed. “Derek?”

Erica shrugged. “It’s his life. He can tell you about it.”

“If he ever decides to be friends with me.” Stiles muttered.

Erica looked at Boyd. “Am I allowed to smack him?”

“No.” Boyd told her.

“Then you talk to him.”

Boyd shook his head. “I’m a bodyguard. Silent in the corner.”

Erica snorted. “Whatever.”

Boyd’s face twitched a bit as he hid his fond smile at Erica’s shenanigans.

“Derek’s going to love you.” Erica assured Stiles with a small sincere smile. “Trust me.”

“I just met you.”

Erica grinned. “And yet, we’re going to be great friends.”

“So, how long until Derek joins us?” Lydia asked, smoothing out her skirts. Stiles could’ve kissed her for getting the attention back off of him. “We still have shopping to finish in the alley.”

“You can go if you need to.” Erica told her. “I can take care of Stiles.”

“Never.” Scott told her. “I don’t leave my best friend behind with people we just met.”

“Not even celebrities?” Erica teased.

“Especially not celebrities.” Scott said coldly.

Erica was a little taken aback by the cold tone and she knew there was a story behind it but she also knew that it wasn’t her place to ask.

“I can stay with him if you two wanted to go do more shopping.” Scott told the girls.

“I am not leaving.” Lydia said firmly. “Derek just needs to get his ass in here so we can do the formal introductions and they can decide their initial paths and we can get back to the floor.”

“He’ll be here soon.” Erica smiled. “His photo op just ended and I highly doubt he’ll hang around with you guys sitting back here.”

“Is he going to be excited about this?” Allison asked.

Erica nodded. “Probably. He may look like a rough and tough man who locked his feelings away long ago but he’s not. He’s a gentle soul who’s been hurt before and doesn’t want to be hurt again.”

“We can’t ask about that, can we?” Stiles asked.

“Not me.” Erica confirmed.

Stiles nodded. “I get it.”

“You’re going to do fine with him.” Erica smiled. “I know it.”

“You know what?” Derek’s voice floated in as the door opened and he stepped in.

Stiles didn’t hear Erica’s response, he was lost in the sight of Derek again. This was his soulmate. His _soulmate_. Derek _freaking_ Hale was his soulmate. He, Stiles Stilinski, the ugly, idiotic bench-warmer turned Youtubing college student, was soul bonded with _Derek freaking Hale_ , the most gorgeously fit and amazing actor of this time. There was no way this was true.

“Stiles? Stiles? Stiles?!”

Stiles jerked his eyes away from Derek and looked at Lydia. “What?”

Lydia smiled. “I was asking you if you need us to stay.”

Stiles nodded frantically.

Scott reached over quickly and grabbed Stiles’s hand before he started freaking out. “We’re right here. We won’t leave you if you don’t want us to.”

Stiles smiled at him, grateful. If he’d still been paying attention to Derek he might have seen a flash of emotion cross his face before it was carefully hidden again.

“Thanks Scottie.”

Scott grinned and squeezed Stiles’s hand. “Until the end of the line, remember?”

Stiles laughed and leaned into Scott’s side. “You’re the best.”

“Nah. That’s totally you.”

“So are we doing this then?” Derek asked, cutting into their broment.

“Of course.” Scott smiled at him. “We’re just here to support Stiles.”

Derek took a deep breath and sat down in an empty chair, looking at Seth. “Seth?”

“I already notified your sister.” Seth smiled. “She doesn’t know what happened but she knows you and her have a lot to talk about tonight.”

Derek sighed but nodded. “Of course.” He looked at Stiles. “So, Stiles, it appears we’re soulmates.”

“Appears so.” Stiles sighed. “But it might be a fluke.”

“It’s very rare.” Derek said, voice tight.

 _‘Great.’_ Stiles thought. _‘Erica was wrong. He hates me being his bond.’_

Stiles shrugged. “It happens.”

“What do you want from this?” Derek asked, straight to the point.

“I don’t know.” Stiles responded. “Whatever you want, I guess.”

“Well, I suppose I’m still at a disadvantage here.” Derek said. “You know about me, but I don’t know anything about you.”

Stiles smiled a little. “Well, my name’s Stiles Stilinski, I’m a college student at UCLA with Scott, my best friend since the kindergarten and my roommate. I’m a low-key Youtube vlogger.”

“You have nearly 100,000 subscribers!” Lydia exclaimed. “That is not low-key!”

“Compared to your million, that’s low-key.” Stiles shot back.

Lydia rolled her eyes with a frustrated sigh.

“A Youtuber?” Derek asked.

“I make videos and post them on Youtube.” Stiles explained. “Vlogs of my day, like the ones I’ve been filming all weekend and plan to edit together and post this week, and other videos like skits and rants or Q&A videos and colabs with other Youtubers like Lydia. Really whatever I want.”

Derek nodded slowly. “So it’s probably best if we don’t go public then.”

“What?” Stiles asked, brow furrowing in confusion.

“If you come out as my soulmate and you’re already in the sort of public eye, you’ll get slaughtered by fans, both supportive and hateful ones.” Derek explained. “If we stay hidden, it’ll be better. It should be easy if we’re staying platonic.”

“We’re staying platonic?” Stiles asked.

Derek shrugged. “I think it’d be easier for both of us if we stayed platonic and secret. Then we don’t have to worry about the media and we are both free to pursue whatever other romantic relationships we wish.”

Stiles clenched his jaw and he felt Scott squeeze his hand. He knew it was too good to be good. He nodded slowly. “Okay.” Stiles forced a relaxed smile on his face. “Let’s stay platonic then.”

Derek smiled. “Okay. So that’s settled then.”

“We should probably swap numbers.” Stiles suggested. “If we ever need each other, it’d be good to be able to get in touch.”

Derek nodded in agreement and reached into his pocket to pull out a business card and a pen. He wrote a couple numbers on the back of the card quick and held it out. “The first number on the back’s mine and the second number belongs to my sister, Laura. You should have it in case she needs to get a hold of you for publicity reasons. And I’ll be giving yours to her as well, okay?”

Stiles nodded. “Makes sense. I can text you so you have mine.”

“That’ll be fine.”

“I guess that’s everything then.”

“I guess so.” Derek said, his face still as blank as it has been the entire conversation. “You guys should probably go then. I know you’re probably anxious to get back to the floor.”

Stiles nodded stiffly. “Thank you.”

“Thank you.” Derek gave a tight smile. “Now I can stop worrying about who my soulmate is.”

“Let’s go.” Lydia declared, getting to her feet. She looked at Seth. “Seth? Woould you mind leading us back to the floor?”

Seth nodded. “Of course. Right this way.”

Lydia waited until Scott and Allison led Stiles from the room before looking at Derek. “I should’ve known better than to expect anything more.” She spat at him before sweeping from the room after her friends.

As soon as the door shut behind Lydia with a resounding click, Erica was on her feet and lunging for Derek.

“What the fuck was that?!” Erica demanded, punching Derek’s chest.

“What was what?!” Derek shouted, trying to block Erica’s blows. There was a reason she was cast as Caroline, she can pack quite a punch.

Erica stopped, sitting astride Derek’s lap. “You are one of the most romantic people I know, Derek Hale. You have been looking forward to meeting your soulmate for the entire time I’ve known you and long before according to Laura. Why the _hell_ did you just treat your soulmate like you had no interest in _ever_ getting to know him?”

“I can’t screw up his life.” Derek whispered, ducking his head so he didn’t have to look at Erica’s face. “I can’t. He has friends that love him and a life that he seems to be happy in. I saw him earlier and he was basically glowing with happiness and then we touched and the marks appeared and now he looks hurt. Like he can’t believe he got saddled with someone so in the spotlight that his entire life is up for grabs with the media. I can’t ever have a normal relationship. I won’t put my soulmate through that.”

“And yet rather than explaining that to him and letting him make the choice, you just shut him out?” Erica demanded. “Derek, you fucking idiot.”

“You heard him. I mentioned that we’re soulmates and his first response was that it might be a fluke. He didn’t fight the platonic decision. He’ll be fine without me.”

Derek couldn’t look at her anymore. “Just drop it Erica. I won’t change my mind. I refuse to hurt my soulmate. I won’t do it. And I won’t hurt his boyfriend either.”

Erica groaned and rolled off his lap. “You’re such a fucking idiot Derek Hale.”

“So you’ve said.” Derek sighed.

“Don’t come crying to me when you get hurt by this.” Erica told him.

“I won’t get hurt.” Derek assured her. “I know what I’m doing.”

“For now. But I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Derek shrugged. “I’m a big boy, Erica. I can handle myself.”

“I hope so.” Erica told him. “Because I am calling Laura tonight and telling her about the _stupid_ move you just made. And I won’t stop her from going off on you this time. This time, you deserve every second of it.”

With that declaration, Erica swept from the room.

Derek looked at Boyd. “What the hell?”

Boyd shrugged. “I don’t take sides with you two.” He said, before following Erica out to continue his duties as bodyguard.

Derek was left alone in the green room, staring at the wall. “What the hell was that?” He whispered to himself. He couldn’t figure out why Erica was so mad at him. He made the right decision. Now Derek doesn’t have to worry about bad publicity with his soulmate going public with stories about them when they get in fights and Stiles can continue whatever sort of relationship he has with that Scott guy. They seemed close and Derek refuses to break up a couple just because he wants someone to love who might actually have the chance to love him back.

***

“What did I do wrong?” Stiles whispered, wiping a few last tears from his eyes after his short cry session.

“Nothing.” Scott said firmly. “He’s just an asshole.”

“Don’t say that.” Stiles spat.

“He’s right.” Allison said gently, sitting down on the other side of Stiles. “If Derek can’t see how amazing you are, he doesn’t deserve you.”

“I don’t deserve him and he knows it.” Stiles groaned. “He took one look at me without my mask on and he realized how fucking dumb I am and how I am nowhere near his level.”

“That’s because you’re so far above him, he can’t even see how awesome you are.” Lydia declared, sitting behind them on the bed they were sitting on to put a hand on Stiles’s back. “You’re one of the most, if not the most, amazing men I’ve ever met and if he knew how great you are he’d be falling over himself to be yours.”

Stiles snorted. “I’m overshadowed by you _and_ Allison, Lydia.”

“Well duh.” Lydia laughed. “I did say men.”

Stiles sighed, smiling a little. “Let’s just forget about it, okay? Today was an amazing end to an amazing weekend and I’m so glad I got to share it with the three of you. Let’s put him behind us.”

The other three nodded, accepting his decision.

“We need to take our night group selfie before we all undress.” Scott reminded them.

“Oh god.” Stiles laughed. “We probably look like shit, and not just because of the shit with him.”

“Let’s get this done and up so we can go to sleep.” Lydia decided. “We could all do with one good night’s sleep before we head out tomorrow morning.”

“Road trip!” Stiles and Scott exclaimed.

The girls just rolled their eyes.

“Still can’t believe we agreed to submit ourselves to this torture for an entire week.” Lydia sighed.

“It’s because we love them.” Allison reminded her.

“Still unbelievable.” Lydia told her.

“You know you’re gonna love it.” Stiles grinned at her.

“I know it’s going to be a miracle if I don’t kill one of you.” Lydia responded coldly but the heat in her voice wasn’t matched in her eyes, where instead lived fond love of the boys.

“Selfie time!” Scott declared through a yawn. “Sleepy time approaches.”

“You’re an idiot.” Stiles rolls his eyes.

Scott just grinned and leaned in to press a loud, smacking kiss to Stiles’s cheek, Lydia getting her phone up in time to get it on film.

“You two are idiots.” Lydia rolled her eyes.

“Send that to me?” Stiles asked.

“Of course.” Lydia smiled. “Now, can we take our selfie? This dress is awesome but it’s not the most comfortable thing to be lying down in.”

The others laughed at her but nodded in agreement, gathering together as Lydia raised her phone to snap a picture of the group of them, looking exhausted but happy after four days of the best comic con they could’ve asked for, baring the unfortunate result of Stiles meeting his soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Drama! What do you guys think?


	4. Chapter 4

“Derek James Hale, I swear to every deity in existence, I will whip your ass if you are watching that boy’s videos again.”

Derek looked up as his sister walked into his living room to find him curled up on the couch with his laptop and headphones. He didn’t even try to deny or hide it.

Laura sighed and sat down. “Derek, you need to stop.”

“I pushed him away _for him_. Not me.” Derek reminded her. “You know me. I need to know as much as I can about him.”

“And you plan to do that by stalking him on Youtube, Twitter, and Tumblr and just digging yourself a deeper hole?” Laura asked.

Derek shrugged. “I’ve only _looked_ at his Youtube so far. I haven’t made it to the others yet.”

“Derek, this isn’t healthy.”

“When have I ever taken the healthy option?” Derek asked her. “I’m a notorious self-depreciating asshole with the habit of falling in love with those most likely to hurt me, remember?”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.” Laura growled.

“I don’t care.” Derek told her with a shrug. “You’re right to say it but it doesn’t change anything. I always want what I’ll never get. I’ve accepted it. You should too.”

Laura got up and took the few steps over to grab Derek’s laptop. He didn’t try to stop her.

“The Boyfriend Tag?” She read.

“A video of his with Scott.” Derek told her.

“The one you think he’s in a relationship with.”

Derek nodded in answer to the non-question. “That’s him.”

“You haven’t watched it yet?” Laura asked, noticing the bar all the way at the start.

Derek shrugged. “Apparently I’m not as much of a masochist as I thought.”

“Don’t do it.” Laura told him. “You’re my brother and no matter how stupid you get, I will always love you. And as your older sister, it is my duty to tell you both that you’re an idiot, and that you shouldn’t watch this. It doesn’t matter what they are. He’s your soulmate and you pushed him away and now you have to deal with that because I know I can’t change your mind about it at this point but you shouldn’t drown yourself in him when you can’t have him. It isn’t healthy.”

Derek smiled slightly. “You sound like Mom.”

“You told her?”

“Of course.”

Laura nodded and then glanced at Derek’s arm, safely covered by his shirt. “You know, you never did tell me what the mark is.”

Derek glanced down at his arm, laying his right hand across it his forearm where the mark laid, hidden by his shirt sleeve. “Does it matter?”

Laura shrugged. “No, but I’m curious.”

Derek shook his head. “Not today.”

Laura nodded in acceptance. “You have two more days to mope and then it’s back into working on your next project.”

“That’s the small, six episode Netflix show, right?” Derek asked. “The one about vampires?”

Laura nodded. “It’s not a huge a part because it’s just to fill the time until the pre-production for the second _Warrior_ movie starts and get you back in the grove of working again after the whole publicity tour.”

“Okay.” Derek nodded. “Do they know?”

“They think you’ve burned your arm and will have it covered in gauze for the duration in of filming.” Laura told him. “The wardrobe is all long-sleeves anyways so you’ll be fine.”

“Okay. I can handle that. And the _Warriors_ people?”

“I have to talk to them tomorrow.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks bro.” Laura smirked. “Get any gluttony you want in today, tomorrow you go on pre-season diet.”

Derek groaned. “Do I have to?”

“Yep.”

“Ugh.” Derek moaned. “I hate the diets.”

“Everyone hates the diets but you will do it or I will kick your ass. Understood?”

Derek nodded. “Yea yea.”

“Good.” Laura handed his laptop back and straightened her shirt. “I’ll talk to you later about what to do about _Warriors_ and we need to talk about confidentiality agreements to send to Stiles and friends.”

“Confidentiality agreements?” Derek asked, confused.

“We have to.” Laura told him. “For your safety. And for theirs. This way they can’t sell us out and your agency can’t use revealing Stiles as a publicity stunt. It’ll protect him.” Laura felt a little bad using that argument but she knew Derek would agree if she told him it would protect Stiles from them. “You know they’ll do anything they can to get more publicity for the _Warriors_ movie.”

Derek sighed, knowing she was right. “Fine. But you send it.”

“Fine.” Laura agreed. “Now go take a shower. You reek.”

Derek just flipped her off as she left the room and then the house.

When she was gone he flopped back down and stared at the first second of the Boyfriend Tag video. Scott wasn’t in view yet but Stiles was front and center, grinning wide for the camera. The sight made Derek’s heart clench but there was nothing he could do about it. Laura was right, as much as he hated to admit it. He chose this and now he has to pay the price.

***

“Stiles, what are you doing?” Scott asked, annoyed to see his best friend laying on the hotel bed with his laptop when he walked in.

“Stalking Derek.” Stiles admitted with a shrug. He did it before and he had no plans to stop.

“Stiles.” Scott groaned. “Why do you keep doing this to yourself?”

“Because just because the man is an asshole to me doesn’t mean I can’t admire his acting skills.”

“And his ass?” Scott asked with a smirk.

Stiles grinned. “That ass is a piece of heaven on earth.”

Scott rolled his eyes. “You know you should stop, right?”

“I know but- well, you know.” Stiles shrugged. “I already liked him and now I feel like invested in him or something. He’s my soulmate, whether he wants to be or not.”

“I get it.” Scott nodded. “But you’re gonna get hurt.”

“I already am.”

Scott bit his lip, glancing down, but then brightened with the thought of how to cheer Stiles up. “But on a better note, have you read any of the comments on the pic of us you posted the last night of comic con?”

“More Sciles fans?” Stiles guessed with a smirk, although it wasn’t much of a guess and more of a knowledge. Their fans were nuts.

“They loved it.” Scott grinned.

Stiles laughed. “Glad they do.”

“Our tag’s blown up in the last week. All of them have with this road trip and the constant presence in pictures on each other’s accounts. Some people have even starting shipping all four of us together in something that seems to be called ‘The Mighty Ship: SS Allidia’.”

Stiles looked at him. “Are you serious?”

Scott nodded. “We never claimed to have normal fans.”

“I fucking love them!” Stiles declared happily.

“I figured you would.”

“This is awesome.” Stiles grinned, distracted for a moment as he pulled up a new window and searched it. He laughed when he saw the results. “There’s already fanart.”

“Those fans of yours are quick.” Scott agreed.

“You mean Lydia’s fans.” Stiles corrected. “None of my fans care enough yet.”

Scott huffed. “You’re an idiot.” Scott grabbed Stiles’s laptop from him, ignoring the indigent squawk of protest to type something into the search bar of a new tab. He waited a second and turned the screen to Stiles. “Look.”

Stiles took back his laptop with a look of awe on his face. He was looking at a tumblr page entirely dedicated to him. Like entirely dedicated. It looked like there were over a hundred pages of posts of pictures of him or stories about him. It was amazing.

“Holy shit.” Stiles whispered.

“You have an Obsessed.” Scott grinned.

“I have an Obsessed.” Stiles whispered back. “Holy shit.”

“You said that already.”

“Holy. Mother. Of. Shit.”

Scott laughed. “Stop putting yourself down, Stiles.” He told him. “You’re attractive and an amazing person that people love seeing on Youtube.”

Stiles smiled. “I have an Obsessed.”

“Judging by the number of people reblogging her posts, I’d say more than one.” Scott told him.

“I don’t suck?”

“You don’t suck.” Scott confirmed.

“We’re going out tonight.” Stiles declared. “Tell the girls.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m sure we can find some club to go to.”

Scott grinned. “I’ll let the girls know.”

“Tonight, I’m getting drunk and then I’m getting laid.” Stiles told him. “You’re right, if Derek doesn’t care about me, then I shouldn’t have to care about him either. I’m getting laid and I am leaving him in the dust when we roll out tomorrow.”

“I’m proud of you.” Scott grinned.

“Glad to know you still love me.”

“I’ll always love you.”

“Even when I’m an asshole and/or an idiot?”

“Well maybe not when you’re the ‘and’ part.” Scott teased. “But definitely the or.”

Stiles laughed. “Love you too Scottie boy.”

***

Derek was having a little trouble breathing. He’d finally finished marathoning almost every single video on Stiles’s channel, even the horrible ones from the start of the channel and excluding the ones from ComicCon (he didn’t want to hear about how he’d ruined the fourth day), and made it to his other social media accounts. He’d thought watching Stiles and Scott tease each other through a ‘Boyfriend Tag’ had been hard, and then he’d thought himself prepared after a week of watching Stiles’s videos, but this was so much worse and it wasn’t even a video. It was just a stupid picture right at the top of Stiles’s instagram when he finally pulled it up that sent his heart into his shoes and brought a foul taste up into his mouth. The picture was from that morning and already had plenty of comments on it but he couldn’t even attempt to read them yet because of the picture itself.

Scott and Stiles were in the backseat of a car and there was trash everywhere, Derek briefly remembered watching the video Stiles had posted that week about being on a roadtrip with Scott, Allison, and Lydia and how there’d be a big long vlog about it soon on both his channel and another on Lydia’s to share their experiences driving across the country together, and both boys looked completely and utterly content. Both of them were grinning and leaning on each other, Stiles’s arm outstretched as he took the selfie and Derek knew he’d be getting lost in Stiles’s smile if it wasn’t for the glaring thing that held his attention in rapture. On Stiles’s neck, clear above his collar, was a smattering of bruises that were definitely not from tripping and were definitely hickies. The caption of the picture is really what made it bad though.

@TheStilinskiStyle: _‘Had one of the best nights ever with @ScottieBoi last night in Nashville. It’s a good thing it’s the girls’ turn to drive!!_

Derek felt like he was going to be sick as he read it. He’d been right all along. The two of them were close and he’d been right not to get in the middle of it. And then, because Derek’s a masochist, he scrolled down the post to see the comments.

The first one made is heart drop even further than his shoes.

@ScottieBoi: _It would’ve been a lot better if you hadn’t drank so much! I practically had to carry you back to the hotel room!!_

Derek gulped loudly, ignoring the implications of what happened after, and kept scrolling. After that the comments basically split into three types.

Type One: Telling Stiles that they’d like to be the ones giving him the hickies

Type Two: Telling Stiles to notice them and either watch their videos or follow them on tumblr

Type Three: Singing the praises of something called ‘Sciles’ and saying how cute of a couple they were.

Derek opened a new tab and searched it quick, his heart sinking even further at the results, dozens of tumblr posts about the two of them being such a cute couple and pictures of them. Derek closed the tab quickly.

“Fuck.” He whispered to the silence of his bedroom.

He could hear Laura’s voice in his head warning him against it, but he clicked back to Stiles’s main page and took a deep breath before scrolling down. He let the breath go in relief when the next picture was of him and Lydia sitting in the front seat of a car.

@TheStilinskiStyle: _Hanging out with the best girl in the world @QueenofScreams!!_

Derek stuck on the picture for a moment, taking in the bright, wide grin Stiles had one as he pulled Lydia into his side. Both of them were grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Nothing like what Stiles had looked like when he discovered Derek was his soulmate.

Derek kept scrolling, passing a few more pictures of Stiles either by himself with a witty caption about what he was doing at the time or with the girls with an accompanying caption singing their praises. Derek wasn’t all that concerned about them though, he knew Stiles was the kind of guy to stick to monogamy. He didn’t know why he was so sure about that, but his gut was telling him it was so. And if he was already with Scott, the girls were no problem at all. They’d even been the ones matching when Derek met them, Allison being the King Arthur to Lydia’s Queen Guinevere.

The next picture on Stiles’s page made Derek both hurt and smile at the same time. On one hand, Stiles looked happier than he would’ve thought seeing as the picture was posted the Sunday night of ComicCon, only a few hours after Derek destroyed Stiles’s dreams of a perfect soulmate. But on the other hand, he was leaning heavily into Scott with the girls just kind of leaned against him, almost protecting him from the camera on the phone Allison seemed to have been holding out to take the picture. Stiles had captioned it:

@TheStilinskiStyle: _After the Fourth and Final day of the amazing ComicCon, I am exhausted and yet exceedingly pleased. This has been a long but amazing weekend and I totally look forward to the upcoming awesome road trip with @ScottieBoi @QueenofScreams and @ArrowAngel !!!_

Derek smiled as he read it. It actually sounded like Stiles was okay, like maybe he didn’t fuck Stiles up to much. Or so he thought until he moved down to the next picture.

Stiles was sitting on a hotel bed, his eyes rimmed with red, obviously having been crying, and Scott was sitting next to him, leaning over with his eyes closed to land a kiss on Stiles’s cheek. Stiles had his face screwed up in a mixture of surprise and amusement and he looked happy, despite the red rim on his eyes. The caption hurt the worst though.

@TheStilinskiStyle: _@ScottieBoi really is the best man in the world. He always knows what to say when things go bad._

Derek closed the tab quickly and then shut his laptop. “Fuck.” He whispered to the room again. He needed to stop this. He knew he needed to stop this. And yet, he didn’t know if he was going to stop. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it was a lot shorter than the last one but the next one should be longer.


	5. Chapter 5

“Who the fuck does he think he is?!” Stiles shouted.

Scott jerked awake in the back, punching Allison and waking her up as well. Lydia just gave him a side eye from the driver’s seat.

“Stiles?” Lydia asked, concerned but not yet worried. “What’s wrong?”

“That fucking asshole had the nerve to email me a confidentiality agreement!” Stiles exclaimed, staring at his phone.

“Don’t respond.” Lydia told him immediately, her mind jumping into action. “We’ll print it at the next hotel and I’ll look it over. You will not sign anything unless I approve it. Got it?”

Stiles nodded, still staring at the email.

“Why’d he send it to you?” Allison asked.

“Well _he_ didn’t.” Stiles spat. “He’s too much of a fucking coward to do it himself so his sister Laura sent it to me. But it’s from him. I can feel it. And the email says you three have to sign them as well.”

“No one is signing anything until I approve it.” Lydia declared. “Those people are not about to take our rights from us.”

“It makes sense though.” Scott muttered.

“What?” Stiles demanded, turning to look at him.

“It does.” Scott shrugged, not at all bothered by his best friend’s rage. He knew Stiles wouldn’t hurt him. “He was acting all big and important and he was insistent that this needed to stay secret when you two were talking. He doesn’t want this getting out and a confidentiality agreement is one way to make sure it doesn’t.”

“He shouldn’t worry.” Stiles spat, collapsing a little bit back into his seat. “I’m over it. As far as I’m concerned, our marks are a fluke and my real soulmate is out there somewhere, waiting for me. And I’m gonna find them. I think I deserve at least that much.”

Scott smiled. “And you will, Stiles. But it is his career on the line.”

“And my happiness means nothing?”

“I don’t exactly think he was thinking about you here.” Allison told him. “He’s gotta be thinking about his job. I mean, the filming for the second _Warriors_ movie starts in like two months. He can’t have your story getting out.”

Stiles scowled. “I’d never sell this to the media. It’d destroy me and the fans. They’d go after him faster than blood-thirsty piranhas and as much as I hate him, I can’t do that to him. No one deserves that.”

“It’s okay, Stiles.” Lydia assured him. “I won’t let them fuck your life up anymore than they already have. This will protect you just as much as it protects him, if not more. I’ll make sure of it. This agreement will stop you from selling the story, but it’ll also prevent them from purposefully leaking the story to get publicity for the next _Warriors_ movie.”

“They’d do that?” Stiles asked, voice small.

“Some celebrities with non-famous soulmates have in the past.” Lydia shrugged. “But I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen to you. Okay?”

Stiles nodded and smiled. “You really are the best.”

“I know.” Lydia smiled. “Now get some rest, you’ve got two hours till your stretch at the wheel up to Wisconsin.”

Stiles grinned. “The land of cheese and beer.”

“I like the sound of it.” Scott agreed.

Lydia rolled her eyes. “Get to sleep you two, Allison’s already gone back under again.”

Sure enough, when the boys looked, Allison was already out cold again.

“I still don’t understand how she does that.” Scott said in awe.

“Magic.” Stiles decided. “No other explanation.”

Scott nodded in agreement. “Superpowers.”

“You’re both idiots.” Lydia declared.

“You love us.” Stiles grinned.

“God knows why.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Scott.”

“Nite Lyds.”

“Go to sleep, Stiles.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Lydia kept driving as the car fell silent before glancing over at Stiles. She couldn’t believe Derek would have the nerve to have his manager/sister send them confidentiality agreements. A rare feeling was rearing up again as she felt grateful she got her law degree early, using both in classroom and online courses together to graduate early. She never thought it would come in handy but now it definitely would. She can stop this from running them over and leaving them for dead. Hopefully.

***

“Your soulmate’s friends are insufferable.” Laura declared, walking into Derek’s trailer.

“Hello to you too.” Derek mumbled, sitting up on his couch. “What happened now?”

“That red-head, Lydia, keeps bouncing back the confidentiality agreements with changes.” Laura spat. “I just got the fifth one back.”

Derek smirked. “Maybe you should just accept the changes.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because your people will never agree to the conditions she keeps making.” Laura snapped. “I honestly think she’s just putting off the signing.”

Derek shrugged. “Probably.”

Laura narrowed her eyes at him.

“You watched another video again last night, didn’t you?”

Derek looked silently at the floor.

“Derek.” Laura said, voice firm.

“You don’t need to scold me.” Derek told her, looking up. “Mom already did.”

“Well obviously you didn’t listen.” Laura snapped at him. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself. It’s going to kill you.”

Derek shrugged. “Better to die and be done than live on in pain forever.”

Laura walked over and hit him in the head. “Don’t you fucking dare Derek James. I will raise you from the dead just to kill you myself if you even think about attempting it.”

“I’m not going to kill myself, Laura.” Derek promised. “I’m just saying that if I was to die, maybe I wouldn’t mind as much as I used to.”

Laura’s face softened. “Derek.”

“I’m fine.” Derek told her. “Just get them to sign it so I can stop worrying about him.”

“You’re seriously more worried about him than you are about yourself?”

Derek nodded. “It’s not his fault that he’s my soulbond and I’m his. He shouldn’t have to suffer for it.”

Laura sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“And Laura?”

“Yea?”

“Tell him that if he every needs something, anything, I’m just a phone call away. We may be platonic but he’s still my soulmate and he can have my help whenever he needs it.”

Laura nodded. “I’ll tell them when I send the next draft of the contract.”

“Thank you.”

Laura bit her lip. “You’re my brother, I’d do anything for you.”

“Still. Thank you.” Derek repeated. “You’ve been cleaning up my messes for years.”

“None of those messes were your fault.”

“Yes they were.”

“Derek.”

“They were.” Derek said firmly. “I fucked up and now I’m done with it. I won’t hurt anyone else.”

Laura opened her mouth to argue but a withering look from Derek had her sighing and closing it. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“At this point, I deserve to be hurt.” Derek told her. “With everything I’ve done, and all the people I’ve hurt, I deserve some pain of my own.”

Laura bit her lip, not knowing what to say. Derek’s been like this before and she never knows how to deal with it. “Just- just don’t let it go too far, okay?”

Derek looked at her for a moment before nodding. “I’ll try.”

“And stop watching his videos.”

Derek smirked. “You know I can’t do that.”

“And why not?”

“He tweeted yesterday that today or tomorrow would be the day he uploaded the long vlog about the road trip they’ve been on.”

“God dammit Derek.”

Derek smiled, looking more tired than anything else. “You always knew that when I found them, I’d fall hard and I’d fall fast.”

“I know.” Laura agreed with a sigh. “And sometimes I hate you for it.”

“Like-?”

“No.” Laura said immediately, not wanting to make Derek think about the latest in what he calls his ‘mistakes’. “I’m talking more of those one night love stories I had to cover up your first year in the spotlight.”

Derek blushed. “I loved all of them.”

“I know you did.” Laura agreed. “That’s what made it so damn difficult.”

***

“That nasty little bitch!” Lydia declared, coming into the hotel room.

Stiles looked up sharply at the anger in the redhead’s voice. “What?”

“I called your soulmate’s sister a bitch.” Lydia told him, going to the tiny table and throwing down the paper in her hands

“Oh. Okay.” Stiles smiled from the bed where he and Scott were laying. “Why?”

“She emailed another draft of the confidentiality agreements.” Lydia told them.

“The ones we’ve extended our one-week roadtrip into three and counting to avoid goinh home and signing?” Scott asked.

“Those ones.” Lydia confirmed. “But that’s not what I called her a ratty little bitch for.”

“So you’ve gotten over the contracts?” Allison asked from her spot on the second bed, pouting just a little from Stiles stealing Scott’s cuddle time.

“I will never get over them just sending those out of the blue and demanding we sign them.” Lydia told her, her voice cold. She really didn’t like Derek’s legal people, especially and including his sister.

“Then what now?” Stiles asked.

“She added a little note with this draft.” Lydia told him. “From Derek.”

Stiles scowled. “What’d the bastard have to say now?”

“He wanted her to tell you that if you ever need anything, anything at all, he’s just a phone call away.” Lydia told him. “Something about how even though you two are platonic, you’re still his soulmate and you can always ask for help and he’ll always give it.”

Stiles snorted. “If he wanted to help me, he shouldn’t’ve broken my heart with the quick rejection he gave me and then the lovely confidentiality agreements he’s so kindly tacked on to the end and demanded we all sign.”

Lydia smirked. “Sometimes I can’t tell if I hate them more, or you.”

“Stiles.” Scott and Allison declared together.

“At least with Derek.” Scott amended.

“Yea, you hate Laura more.” Allison told Lydia.

Lydia grinned. “I wouldn’t doubt it. I hate that little bitch.”

“I can’t believe he’d say that though.” Stiles spat. “Like if he wanted to help me, he could talk to me himself instead of through his sister and you, Lydia. He has my number. He knows how to get in touch with me.”

Lydia smiled. “I’m so glad of the influence I’ve had on you.”

“He had the cunning.” Scott told her. “He just needed the right teacher to show him how to be self-confident and not care about those who hurt him.”

“Lydia is definitely the one for that job.” Allison laughed.

Lydia grinned. “I get what I want. This bitch Hale needs to learn that.”

“Lyds, you’re demanding impossible things of her.” Allison reminded her.

“And she’s demanding something she had no right to demand without Stiles and Derek discussing it first.” Lydia shot back. “I will delay this agreement for as long as I need to. And it’s not like it’s hard to stall an idiot who doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

Stiles smiled. “I’m so glad I met you. And that you decided that you were going to put up with the bullshit Scott and I provide for this foursome.”

“Please don’t call us that.” Scott groaned.

Allison laughed at her boyfriend. “It’s not horrible Scott. I wouldn’t mind. Not Lydia at least.”

“Hey!” Stiles exclaimed.

“Love you bro but hell no.” Scott told him, getting up to go lay with Allison and kissing her cheek.

“I don’t know.” Lydia shrugged. “The fans seem to adore the idea after we’ve spent three weeks on a road trip together. And your Instagram picture from two weeks ago is not helping whatsoever.”

Stiles grinned. “I swear to god I didn’t even know that hickey was there until it was posted for like hours.”

“Mhmmm.” Lydia hummed.

Stiles smirked. “Okay maybe I noticed.”

“And then you posted it anyways.” Lydia sighed. “Of course.”

“I don’t see the problem.” Stiles shrugged. “Everyone knows Scott’s in love with Allison.”

“No they don’t.” Allison reminded him. “They know Scott has a soulmate. They don’t know the result though. As far as your shippers are concerned, Scott has a platonic bond and he’s in love with you.”

Stiles thought for a moment. “Oh. That’s probably why Sciles is so popular.”

Scott facepalmed.

“Should we do anything?” Stiles asked, looking at Lydia. She was their go-to on doing the smart thing in weird situations.

“It depends.” Lydia told him. “Does them thinking you’re together bother you?”

“Not really.” Stiles shrugged.

“Yea I’m fine with it.” Scott agreed. “Allison knows I love her.”

“Aww.” Allison grinned, leaning over to peck a kiss to his cheek. “I love you too.”

Scott grinned happily. “Yay.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “I have no idea why your relationship hasn’t been figured out yet. You’re adorable.”

“We’re good at editing.” Lydia grinned at Stiles. “We cut out all the grossness.”

“That is true.” Stiles conceded. “But only because I like my few subscribers to enjoy their time watching me, not getting grossed out by my best friend and his sickenly adorable girlfriend.”

“You love us.” Scott and Allison grinned together, looking at their best friends.

“God knows why.” Stiles and Lydia mumbled together before laughing.

“Hey Lyds?” Stiles asked.

“Yea?”

“When were you planning on putting your next vlog from this trip up?”

“Tomorrow.” Lydia told him. “I have to finish editing it in the car tomorrow. Why?”

“I don’t want to post the same day.” Stiles told her. “I think I can get mine up tonight.”

“That’ll work.” Lydia nodded. “And then I’ll link to yours at the end of mine if they want to see more shenanigans.”

Stiles grinned. “Awesome.”

“You better get going on those edits you wanted to make if you’re posting tonight.” Lydia told him.

“Yea.” Stiles sighed. “I will.”

“Now Stiles.” Lydia ordered.

“You’re not my mother!”

Lydia raised an eyebrow.

Stiles giggled. “Sorry Lyds.”

“Mhmm.” She hummed, getting up from the table and going to lay on the bed he was on. “Get. I need to look over this new contract and figure out how to piss this bitch off some more.”

Stiles smirked. “You really hate her, don’t you?”

“With a burning and unending passion.” Lydia confirmed.

***

“Derek?”

Derek looked up. “In here Boyd!”

The man pulled open the trailer door and stuck his head inside. “You’re needed on set in ten minutes.”

Derek sighed. “Why now?”

Boyd smiled. “This is your job, remember? You are paid to act on a set. Not stalk a boy on Youtube.”

Derek scowled at him. “Shut up.”

“Did he post a new video?”

“Yes.” Derek said in a clipped voice. There was no point lying to Boyd, he always knew.

“And have you watched it?”

“Not yet.”

“Ah.” Boyd nodded, understanding. “And you were just about to, weren’t you?”

“Shut up.”

Boyd laughed. “Come on, Derek.”

“Don’t tell Erica?”

Boyd laughed. “Five bucks says I won’t have to.”

Derek groaned. “Why did she have to meet him?”

“Because you’re the unluckiest and dumbest bastard on the planet?”

Derek looked at him.

Boyd shrugged. “It’s true.”

“She’s been ranting again, hasn’t she?”

“She is still not happy about how you treated him, so yea.”

“I did it for his own good. Even if she can’t see that.”

“You know she hates it when you’re a ‘self-depreciating piece of shit’.”

“Her words?”

“Obviously.”

Derek sighed. “I know she’s pissed at me, but I can’t do anything about it now. It’s done.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“Yes it does.”

“Why?”

“Because if I see him again, talk to him again, I don’t know if I’d be able to keep myself away from him. I don’t think I’d be able to keep him safe from this world.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to be kept safe.”

“I need him to be safe.”

“And if he needs you?”

“He has his friends and he has Scott. He’ll be fine.”

“You won’t be.”

“I haven’t been ‘fine’ in a long time Boyd. I can handle a little while longer. Everything will go back to normal soon.”

“And you think signing away your soulmate rights will help with that?”

Derek looked at him. “How did you know about that?”

“Your sister asked me to make sure you’d thought that through all the way.”

“I have.” Derek said firmly.

“Really?” Boyd asked. “Because there’s only a few couples in the world that have signed that kind of contract and they hated each other’s guts.”

“I know.” Derek sighed. “But if I sign my rights away, the agency can’t make me drag him into this. I’m bound by my contract with them but if I’m also bound in this contract with Stiles, he’ll be safe. From me and, more importantly, from them. I need him to be safe.”

“And you don’t need to be?”

“I don’t care if he enacts his rights.” Derek shrugged. “If he did, it might mean he actually cared.”

“Are you getting anything in return for this?”

“He and his friends will sign the confidentiality agreements. That one Laura insisted on to protect me but I think it’s again going to protect him more than it will me. I’d never hurt him by outing him without his permission.”

Boyd sighed. “Derek, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Erica doesn’t either.”

“She’s right.”

“I know.” Derek said quietly.

“Erica’s also demanding that you let her see the mark you two share.” Boyd told him with a small change of subject. “Or at least tell her what it is.”

Derek shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to her.”

“She doesn’t need to know.”

“She thinks she does.”

Derek looked at him. “Boyd. Please.”

Boyd smiled. “She’s just trying to be supportive while also being pissed at you.”

“I know.” Derek sighed. “Maybe someday she’ll give up on that.”

“No she won’t.” Boyd told him. “You know her. She doesn’t give up. Not until she gets what she wants or she gets a good enough reason to stop.”

“And my request isn’t enough?”

“Nope. Especially not when she’s pissed off at you.”

_“DEREK HALE TO SET.”_ An intercom crackled to life nearby to declare. _“DEREK HALE TO SET.”_

Derek groaned.

“Go make some money for the soulmate you’ll never date.” Boyd said, wicked grin on his face.

Derek punched his shoulder on the way out of the trailer, ignoring is so-called friend’s laugh as he went. Boyd didn’t know it, but he’d hit a bit of a nerve with that. Erica had been right, Derek was a secret romantic who had waited for years to meet his soulmate so they could fall in love and he could finally be with someone who would understand him, no matter what happened. But he’d fucked that dream up. His soulmate didn’t want anything to do with him. And he probably never would.


	6. Chapter 6

Derek sighed as he opened his laptop and let it boot up. He bit his lip at the page that was pulled up. It was the last video Stiles had posted of the three and a half week road trip he’d been on with his three best friends since the end of Comic Con. He’d posted it last night, smiling and waving at the camera right away at the start in a bedroom way too familiar to Derek for someone who had never stepped foot in it. Stiles was home. Derek had been too overwhelmed with the emotions he’d felt when he saw that that he’d been unable to watch the video when it had appeared in his feed. So he was going to do it now. Derek took a deep breath to calm and collect himself before pressing play.

_“Hey guys!” Stiles exclaimed, waving happily. “As you guys can probably guess by my amazingly awesome location, I’m HOME!” Stiles cheered loudly  and then sighed. “God, guys it’s great to be home. This last month has been wild. You wouldn’t believe it all if I told you.”_

Derek’s heart clenched at that one. That one was about him. He knew it.

_“But I wouldn’t change it.” Stiles assured the camera with a massive grin._

Derek was always amazed by that. Stiles always seemed so comfortable with the camera, talking to it like he was actually talking directly to his viewers individually instead of as a whole.

_“Seriously. Comic Con was nuts and the last three and a half weeks spent in a car with my three best friends helped me see a lot of things I didn’t before. I’ll probably talk about that stuff later but for right now, I’m home. Live shows will be starting up again this Wednesday night, and I hope to see all of you there, and I will be starting back up on videos other than vlogs now that I actually have time. But for now, enjoy this last vlog about the last week of the amazingly awesomeness that was the SS Allidia roadtrip.”_

Derek paused the video and pulled up a new window to search that. He’d heard it in the last couple videos but he wasn’t sure what it meant. He was a little surprised at what he found on urbandictionary.

_‘SS Allidia’ The term for the shipping foursome of Youtube stars Stiles Stilinski and Lydia Martin paired with their best friends Scott and Allison, both last names unknown.’_

“What the fuck is shipping?” Derek whispered to himself, opening another tab in the page.

An hour later found Derek closing out of the entire window in shock. “The fuck is wrong with people.” He muttered. He’d started out safe in the world but as it got deeper, it got weirder. He’d jumped off the train when he’d discovered the fanfiction about himself. He grabbed his phone and texted Laura.

 **To: Laura** _People are weird and I am scared of the internet forever._

The reply was almost instantaneous.

 **From: Laura** _You found the fanfiction side of tumblr, didn’t you?_

 **To: Laura** _I didn’t even know some of that was possible_

 **From: Laura** _I’ll come over tonight with some booze and good food. I’ll help you forget._

 **To: Laura** _You’re a good sister._

 **From: Laura** _Remember that sentiment when I deliver my message._

Derek was a little bit scared by that. The messages Laura delivers in person are almost never good. But for now, he wants to finish this video. He may as well get as broken as possible all at once so Laura just has to put him back together once. Derek took another deep breath and went back to the video, hitting play again.

Derek watched clip after clip of Stiles with Scott, Allison, and Lydia. He was grinning and laughing in all of them. It looked like he was having an immense amount of fun, no matter what was happening. He was shouting and laughing at Scott snoring loudly in the back seat, exclaiming over how gorgeous Lydia and Allison look when they get in the car one morning, apparently having been up for only thirty minutes, because he and Scott both looked like shit, despite their appearance needing far less work, and even a clip of Stiles asleep in the backseat, filmed by a giggling Allison in the front seat as Stiles’s so-called best friend Scott, who was in the back seat with him, drew scribbles all across Stiles’s face, neck, and shoulders. That clip made Derek’s heart hurt the most. They all got to see Stiles’s sleeping face and his just-woke-up face and Scott even got to wake up in the same bed as it, Derek, like plenty of the fans, had noticed that the rooms they stayed in only ever had two beds. It made him want to hate the other boy for having what Derek never could, but whenever he started, he remembered how happy Scott was able to make Stiles and he was forced to begrudgingly accept it. There was nothing he could do about it. Stiles was never going to be his.

***

“It’s so good to be home.” Stiles sighed, sinking into his couch. They’ve been home for a week and he posted his first video from home already yesterday but after nearly a month away, he was still soaking it up.

Scott smiled at him. “I agree.”

“Can we have takeout tonight from that Thai place?”

“The one we only get on special occasions because their delivery fee is outrageous?”

“Yea.”

“Yea, I think tonight counts as a special occasion.”

“Awesome.” Stiles grinned.

“Tomorrow you’re on your own to finish unpacking.”

“Why?”

“Allison wanted to go on a date without the two of you there as well.”

Stiles laughed. “Sorry?”

Scott shrugged. “I don’t care. You two weren’t that bad. And it was a lot of fun spending so much time with them. We learned plenty about each other.”

“Like the fact that those girls can look like goddesses instantly after walking up?”

“Exactly.” Scott agreed. “And we can’t ever be trusted to be the only two awake while driving through Idaho.”

Stiles laughed. “Yea that was bad.”

“It’s a good thing they have to ask for passports at the border or we’d have gotten extremely lost in the middle of Canada.”

Scott giggled. “The girls were pissed.”

Stiles shrugged. “It’s not like we had anywhere important to be.”

“Other than not here.”

“Very true.”

“Speaking of that, has Lydia figured that out yet?”

Stiles shrugged again. “She said she was going to come here tonight and talk to me about it all.”

“Want me to be here?”

“Definitely.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks bro.”

“Always here for you.”

***

“What?” Derek asked, staring at his sister.

“They’ve agreed to sign it.” Laura repeated. “But Stiles requested that he not be forced to see you.”

“How are we going to sign it then?” Derek asked, voice small. He’d told Boyd that he didn’t think he could handle seeing Stiles again, but he at least thought he’d get to see him once more, when they signed the stupid contract.

“You are going to be in one room. He will be in another.” Laura explained. “Lydia and I will move from one room to the other to get both signatures and there will be a witness in each room to the signing of that signature and they’ll sign as well. Once all the signatures are collected, we’ll be done and we’ll finish filing it where it needs to go and everything will be done.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“I won’t see him again?”

“I’m sorry Derek. I can’t make him see you if he doesn’t want to. You’re giving up your soulmate rights, remember? We can’t demand his presence anywhere and he can’t demand yours.”

“He wouldn’t have to demand.” Derek said, voice small.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours either.”

“It’s always my fault. I did this to myself. And to you.”

“I love you Der-Bear. I’d do anything to help you.”

“You shouldn’t have to help me.”

Laura sighed. “Derek.”

“Laura.” Derek sighed back, hiding a smile.

Laura smiled a little bit. “Derek.”

“Laura.”

“I hate you sometimes.”

“Then stop helping me.”

“Never in a million years will I hate you that much.”

Derek smiled. “I guess I should be thankful for that.”

“Yep. You should be.”

“Thanks sis. For trying.”

Laura nodded. “Who do you want as your witness?”

“Who’s Stiles bringing?”

“Scott.” Laura told him, face carefully blank.

Derek bit his lip. “I guess I should’ve seen that coming.”

“Who do you want there with you?”

“Boyd.” Derek said quickly. “Isaac’s still in France and Erica’s still pissed off at me for not trying the romantic stuff with Stiles.”

“She’s still mad?”

“Boyd says so.”

“Damn. Impressive.”

“She met Stiles before I did.” Derek reminded her. “And she liked him and all of his friends. And then, she claims, I broke his heart. But she refuses to talk to me and tell me why she thinks that.”

Laura sighed. “I’m not getting into this with you guys. I am not your mediator with your friends.”

“Just between me and Stiles, right?”

Laura smirked. “Exactly.”

“You know, you never deserved this.” Derek told her. “You could’ve gotten your own firm and clients that treated you well and gotten paid by the thousands for a single meeting. Instead, you’re my manager _and_ legal counsel.”

“I don’t regret it Derek.” Laura told him. “I never will.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too bro.” Laura smiled. “Now stop watching his videos for the night and get some sleep. Tomorrow you sign away all your soulmate rights.”

“Don’t remind me. Okay?”

Laura nodded. “I’ll come pick you up and drive you in, okay?”

Derek nodded. “Thanks Laura.”

“Anytime bro.”

***

“Lyyyddiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”

“Don’t.” Lydia snapped at him. “You are the reason we have to go into these offices and sign those fucking papers because you insisted on not seeing Derek again and that requires multiple rooms instead of just one office.”

Stiles was immediately cowed. “Sorry.”

Lydia sighed. “No, I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“I shouldn’t’ve pushed. I know you hate these guys.”

“It’s not them specifically.” Lydia told him. “It’s their kind.”

“Which is?”

“Lawyers.” Lydia sighed. “Lawyers for famous people that think they’re the center of the universe and everything revolves around them.”

“Derek doesn’t think that.”

“How would you know?”

Stiles was silenced at that.

“Sorry.” Lydia said again.

“No, you’re right. I keep defending him and I’ve talked to him all of two times. I don’t know him. At all. He’s my fucking soulmate, and I have no idea what kind of a man he is.”

“Someday you’ll find someone to love.” Lydia assured him. “Everyone who desires to have someone, finds someone.”

Stiles smiled sadly. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Lydia nodded, pulling in to the big parking lot and pulling into a visitor’s spot. “You okay to do this?”

Stiles nodded back. “Let’s just go. I don’t want to be waiting any longer. Let’s get it done and get out of here.”

“Okay. Come on then.”

Lydia guided Stiles through the lobby to the elevators, following the directions Laura had given her to get to their floor.

“I don’t have to see him, right?”

“Laura said she’d do her best to keep you separate.” Lydia confirmed. “But it is an office, so there’s no telling what might happen.”

Stiles nodded. “Okay.”

“You sure you’re okay to do this?”

Stiles nodded again. “Stay by me? Please?”

“For as long as I can.” Lydia confirmed. “I won’t leave until Scott gets here and he’s with you.”

“Thanks Lyds.”

She smiled at him. “You’re my best friend after Allison. The only one among us all that understands the YouTube stress. The only one among us that gets the costume-making complaints. I’m going to protect you. For as long as I possibly can.”

Stiles smiled fondly and dove in for a tight hug. “Thank you.” He whispered in her ear.

Lydia laughed, hugging him back. “You’re welcome. Now, you ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

***

“You okay?”

Derek looked up at his sister. “Do I look okay?”

“No.” Laura answered honestly. “You look like shit. Did you sleep at all last night?”

“No.”

Laura sighed. “Why not?”

Derek shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep. Gave up trying and went for a run at like three. Got home at five. Took a long shower. Ate breakfast. Then you picked me up and we came here.”

“You should’ve slept.”

“I tried.”

“You’re exhausted.”

“It’s more mental than physical.” Derek assured her.

“Are you sound of mind to sign this?”

Derek nodded. “I’m fine. It’ll be fine.”

Laura sighed. “When’s Boyd coming in?”

Derek glanced at the clock. “Any second. He said he’d be here by nine.”

“Good.” Laura nodded. “They’re coming at nine too so we can get this done.”

“I won’t see him?”

“Not if we can help it.” Laura confirmed. “We have to at least try.”

Derek nodded. “So no accidental meeting?”

“Not if we want to keep his lawyer best friend happy.”

Derek sighed. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry bro.”

Derek smiled sadly. “I brought it on myself.”

“Don’t even start talking like that.” Laura warned him. “I won’t listen to it.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t.”

“Sorry.”

“ _Derek._ ”

Derek chuckled. “Sorry?”

Laura stepped forward and slapped his head. “Derek James!”

Derek laughed. “S-”

Laura raised her hand again and Derek cut it off with a smirk.

Laura rolled her eyes. “You’re such an idiot.”

“Yet you love me.”

“Yes I do.” Laura confirmed. “I wouldn’t put up with this shit if I didn’t.”

“Thanks sis.”

“Mhmm.” Laura hummed.

There was a knock at the door.

“Enter.” Laura called.

Laura’s assistant, Janine, stuck her head in the door. “Miss Laura? Mr. Boyd is here for Derek and the other two are here as well.”

Laura took a deep breath. “Bring Boyd in here and take me to the others. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“We’re actually still waiting on one.” Janine told her. “Ms. Martin said that her client’s witness isn’t here yet. Something about his roommate being an idiot.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Of course he’s not here. Whatever, I need to meet with her anyways. Take me there.”

Janine nodded. “Of course Miss.”

“And Janine?”

“Yes Miss?”

“I’ve asked you to stop calling me that.”

“Sorry Miss. I mean, Laura.”

Laura smiled fondly at her assistant. “We’ll get there eventually.” She looked at Derek. “You okay to be alone till Boyd gets up here?”

Derek nodded. “I’m not running away, Laura.”

Laura smiled. “Good. I’d hate to have to hunt you down again.”

Derek chuckled. “Get out of here.”

Laura grinned and kissed his forehead before leaving. “Behave.” Laura called over her shoulder.

“Never!” Derek exclaimed.

He could hear her laugh as the door swung shut behind her, leaving him alone for the first time that day.

***

“How are we doing today?” Laura asked, coming into the small conference room she’d had Stiles and Lydia put it and stopping in surprise. “Oh!”

Lydia looked up from Stiles. She was sitting, perched on Stiles’s knee and holding his face. Lydia looked worried and frantic and Stiles looked pale and terrified. “Get out.”

“What?” Laura asked.

“Out!” Lydia demanded, her eyes wide.

Laura backed out of the room immediately, knowing that she should listen.

“What’s wrong?” Janine asked.

“They need a minute.” Laura told her, not knowing what she just saw.

Janine nodded. “Would you like me to collect the copies of the contracts?”

“Yes. Thank you Janine.”

“Of course Miss. I mean-of course Laura.”

Laura smiled. “Check on my brother when you’re done. Boyd should be there in a minute but he’s having a hard time with all this.”

Janine nodded. “Of course Laura. I’ll do that as soon as I grab the contracts.”

Laura smiled at her as she darted off. The door opened and Laura looked back to see Lydia slip out.

“Sorry about that.” Lydia smiled tightly. She knew who this was and she still didn’t like the woman, but she was a professional and goddamnit she wasn’t going to show it.

“What happened?”

Lydia sighed, knowing she couldn’t lie, not to Derek’s representative about Stiles’s mental health. If she doesn’t tell the truth, it could throw the whole contract into being invalid later if she decides to use Stiles to make Derek more famous. “Stiles has panic attacks sometimes when he’s in stressful situations. He’s not exactly happy about this situation and it’s been stressing him out. Especially since we got done with the long road trip.”

“Is this why you kept avoiding the signing and extending your trip?”

Lydia smiled tightly. “A bit of the reason, yea.”

“I’m sorry about all of this then.” Laura told her, voice sincere and surprising Lydia. “My brother can be a bit of an ass but he means well with all of this. He just wants protection.”

“For himself?” Lydia

“For Stiles.” Laura told her. “He doesn’t want this world to hurt Stiles. He’s had a bad life, my brother, and he blames himself and this world we live in when people around him get hurt. He just wants to protect him.”

Lydia narrowed her eyes, still not trusting Laura but not finding in her body language to say she was lying. “Your brother has an odd way of showing he cares.”

Laura shrugged. “I can’t tell you everything because they aren’t my secrets to share but Derek’s had some bad luck, especially in the love department. He doesn’t want Stiles to get hurt.”

“Stiles is already hurt.” Lydia told her, her voice a little harsh. “Derek shattered his heart at Comic Con.”

“I know my brother’s bad, but it can’t be that bad.” Laura defended. Derek was her brother and she wasn’t about to let this redheaded bitch insult him, regardless of who she was. “I mean, Derek said he’s got you guys taking care of him. And that nice boyfriend guy.”

“Boyfriend?” Lydia asked, immediately confused.

“Yea, Scott or something?”

Lydia’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What?”

“Scott is Stiles’s best friend and his witness for today.”

“Yea?” Laura was confused now.

“He’s bonded to Allison and they’ve been dating for two years.”

Now it was Laura’s turn to drop her jaw as she figured out what happened. “Oh my god. Those idiots.”

Lydia groaned. “Oh fucking hell.”

“You can say that again.”      

“Fucking hell.” Lydia repeated.

Laura smirked a little before getting serious again. “Stiles wants this relationship?”

“Stiles has been looking forward to meeting his soulmate since he could understand what the word meant.” Lydia told her, knowing now was the time for honesty. “He’s waited his entire life to meet them. And then your brother broke his heart by making him agree to be secret, and even worse, platonic. Stiles could’ve handled secret, but platonic shattered him. We went back to the hotel room that night and he cried on Scott’s shoulder for an hour after that.”

“ _Fuck_.” Laura hissed. “Derek was the same. He’s always been a romantic but he’s also got some self-esteem and self-confidence issues stemming from some problems he’s had in the past. He thought Stiles was dating Scott and it’d be better if they were just platonic so Stiles was free to date whoever he wanted to and then he thought the secret part would protect Stiles.”

“We need to fix this.” Lydia declared. “We helped break it, we need to help fix it.”

“Definitely.” Laura agreed. “But how?”

*****

“Lydia?” Stiles asked, voice small as he looked up.

“It’s me.” Lydia smiled. “And look who I found.”

“Scott!” Stiles exclaimed happily.

“Hey bro.” Scott smiled, going quickly to his side and hugging him. “Heard you had an attack earlier?”

Stiles blushed. “I freaked a little bit. It wasn’t a full blown attack. Lyds didn’t even have to kiss me.”

Scott chuckled. “That’s always good to hear.”

Stiles smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Nervous?”

“A bit.” Stiles admitted.

“You don’t need to be.” Lydia told him.

“I know you think that.” Stiles sighed.

“No, I know it.” Lydia told him. “You’re not signing the contract today.”

“What?!” Stiles exclaimed. “Why not?!”

“I thought that’s why I’m here!” Scott added.

“It was.” Lydia told him. “But apparently Laura Hale is not only a bitchy idiot, she has a habit of hiring incompetent interns.”

“What happened?” Stiles demanded.

“One of them printed the second draft of the contract and then it made it all the way up the ladder without getting caught and now we don’t have the correct contract in the files or here to sign.” Lydia told them, lying easily. “We have to start over and refile everything and get it straightened out before you two can sign anything.”

Stiles groaned. “Fuck. How long is that going to take?”

“Depends on whether or not her interns learn how to do their fucking jobs.”

“Can you make it go any faster?” Scott asked.

“I’m going to try.” Lydia declared. “I know you want this to get done as faster as possible.”

Stiles nodded. “I’m sick of worrying about him calling on those fucking rights and demanding to talk to me again. It’s been a month Lyds, they’re going to get sick of hiding it soon and there’s nothing stopping them from announcing my existence to the entire fucking world.”

“It’s okay bro.” Scott assured him. “Lydia’s going to fix this.”

“Definitely.” Lydia said firmly. “I’m going to get this fixed as fast as I possibly can.”

“Thanks Lyds.” Stiles smiled.

Lydia smiled back at him. “Anything for a friend.”

“If we’re done here, can we leave?” Stiles asked. “I don’t like it here.”

“Absolutely.” Scott answered immediately. He glanced at Lydia. “Right?”

She nodded. “Yea. Get out of here. I have to talk to Laura  about how to get this fixed quickly.”

“Thank you.” Stiles told her, eyes wide and sincere. Lydia almost felt bad lying to him about the contracts, but she knew this is what needed to happen.

“Get out of here.” Lydia ordered with a smile. “Go film a video or something.”

Stiles laughed and rolled his eyes. “Always with the videos.”

Lydia shrugged. “I know you and I still think they’re pretty fucking funny.”

“I still can’t believe how much you swear.” Stiles told her. “In your videos you’re all proper and nice.”

Lydia smirked. “What’s that saying? Lady on the streets but a freak in the streets? It’s like that. I’m nice and proper on camera and off I’m a lot like you.”

Stiles grinned. “That’s why we get along.”

“I can’t believe you two weren’t soulmates.” Scott sighed. “You would’ve been perfect together.”

Lydia and Stiles smiled.

“Thanks Scottie.”

“I’d never date him.”

“Why not?!”

“I know you too well.”

“Fair point.”

“Now go home. Both of you.”

“Thanks Lydia.”

“Go!”

Lydia watched with a small smile as they left. She had no idea how they were going to do it, but she would do anything in her power to give that boy back the soulmate he’d always dreamt of having.

***

Laura took a deep breath before going back into her office. Derek and Boyd, who’d arrived while she was gone, looked up at her as she walked in.

“Good news and maybe bad news.”

“What?” Derek demanded.

“It’s actually the same news.” Laura told him.

“Laura.” Derek practically growled. Boyd’ hand went to his shoulder to keep him calm.

“You aren’t signing your soulmate rights away today.”

Derek’s eyes went wide. “What happened?”

“One of my interns screwed up and printed and filed the wrong draft of the contract.” Laura told him. “We can’t sign today because we don’t have the right one and even if we did the wrong one was filed so we have to fix it.”

Derek narrowed his eyes at his sister. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“Why would I lie?”

“Because you think I’m wrong to sign my soulmate rights away while letting him keep his.”

“That is true, but that’s not going to make me screw up the legal procedures just to stop all of this.”

“Then what does?” Derek demanded. “Because you’re lying.”

“I’m not lying to you, Derek.” Laura said firmly. “You can’t sign the contract today.”

Derek glared at her. “Because of you.”

“Because of a mistake.” Laura told him.

“That you made on purpose.”

“Derek.” Laura sighed.

“Derek maybe she’s telling the truth.” Boyd muttered.

“Why are you siding with her?!” Derek shouted.

“I’m not siding with anyone.” Boyd told him calmly. “I’m merely pointing out that it is a thing that happens in the legal system. Mistakes are made. It’s okay.” He looked at Laura. “Right?”

Laura nodded. “It shouldn’t more than a couple weeks before we get this straightened out.”

“He’s probably worried sick.” Derek muttered.

“Why do you say that?” Laura asked.

“Wouldn’t you be?” Derek asked her.

Laura shrugged. “I’d trust my soulmate with that.”

“That’s because you love your soulmate.” Derek pointed out. “You two are sickenly in love. My soulmate’s hated me since the moment he found out I was his soulmate.”

“I doubt that’s true.” Laura sighed.

“It is.” Derek spoke firmly, with no doubt in his mind.

Laura looked at Boyd. “Boyd? Back me up here?”

“I’m not getting in it.” Boyd told them. “I’m just the moral support here.”

Laura sighed and Derek smiled.

“Thanks Boyd.” Derek smirked.

“Whatever.” Boyd told with him with a sigh. “If there’s no need for me to be here, can I go? I’ve gotta get some stuff done before date night with Erica.”

“Yea go ahead.” Laura nodded.

“Tell her I’m sorry she hates me?” Derek asked.

“Always do.” Boyd assured him.

Derek smiled. “Thanks.”

“Bye.”

The Hale siblings watched Boyd leave and then looked at each other, Derek with a glare on his face.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten this is your fault.”

“This is not my fault.” Laura told him. “It’s just one of the interns.”

“You’re lying and you know it and you know I know it.”

“I’m not lying. You can’t sign your rights away today.”

“Because of you.”

“Derek.”

“No Laura!” Derek exclaimed. “You can’t keep protecting me!”

“I’m not!”

“Yes, you are! You’ve never let me make one permanent decision on my own since them!”

“That’s not true.”

“It is!”

“Derek-” Laura tried to speak.

“No Laura! Name one permanent decision I’ve made in the last three years that didn’t involve you!”

Laura was silent.

“Exactly!”

“It’s not what it seems, Derek.”

“Yes, it is.” Derek said firmly. “I know you’re trying to help, but I’m not the same idiotic seventeen year old that let her into our lives and our home. And I’m not the same hopeful idiot that let that psychotic witch into my head to twist my thoughts around.”

“I’m not saying you are.”

“But you’re implying it by not letting me make this decision on my own.”

“I think it’s the wrong choice, Derek.”

“I don’t care.” Derek told her, looking more vulnerable with that admittance than Laura had seen in ages. “I need to protect him. From me. From you. From the agency. All of them. I need him and his friends to be safe, Laura. I _need_ it.”

Laura sighed. “I know. But I’m asking you to wait just a little bit longer.”

Derek sighed. “You took that choice away from me. Now I have to wait.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know. But that doesn’t make it better.”

“I know.”

Laura looked at her brother and had to hold herself back. All she wanted to do was to go over and curl up around him and protect him from the world. But as he just pointed out, she can’t always be doing that. He needs to take care of himself, as much as she wants to save him from himself. She knew she should let him figure this mistake out for himself but she couldn’t bear to watch him _and_ his soulmate be in pain. Her and Lydia helped cause this, they needed to help fix this. They need to.


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey guys!” Stiles said cheerfully, waving at the camera he had set up in front of him. “So it’s been about a week since we got back from the road trip and I still have like zero motivation so we’re going to do something really simple and awesome that you guys really seem to like because I get requests for them literally the time and oh god breathe Stiles.”

Stiles laughed at himself. He purposefully never took his medicine on filming days when he wanted good energy because he knew the fans he had liked his ‘vibrant and crazy energy’ as one fan put it on tumblr.

“Sorry guys. I’m still working on the breathing while I talk thing.” He winked at the camera, implying reference to the running joke in the fandom that there are other uses for not needing to breath as often as a normal person. “So today what we’re going to be doing is…” He made drum roll gestures, making a mental note to make sure he puts the drum roll sound in the video. “A Q & A video!” He waved his arms around excitedly, making another mental note to add fake applause.

“So I asked you guys on Twitter and Tumblr for some questions that you’re dying to the hear the answers to and now I’m going to answer some!” Stiles explained quickly. “Here we go!”

“What’s your favorite thing to do with and without Scott?” Stiles read the first question. “Well, I love hanging out with Scott like pretty much all the time, BUT” he emphasized the word. “I don’t like watching Star Trek with him because he never shuts up. And yea you’re all probably thinking ‘Well stiles you never shut up either’ but you’d be wrong because Star Trek is a sacred time when everyone should shut the fuck up and watch in silent awe.”

Stiles laughed at himself, knowing he’d jump cut this stuff out before reading the next question.

“What’s your dream for life?” Stiles shrugged. “No fucking clue. I wanna do something with videos and making videos but YouTube won’t pay bills forever.”

“What’s your monthly obsessions?” Stiles laughed. “Oh god I haven’t one those things in ages! Okay, Song obsession for the month is definitely Geronimo by Sheppard like holy shit guys it’s amazing! Food is this amazing flank steak Allison and Lydia made the other night at their house. I could eat it forever and never get sick of it. It’s like…like…it’s like curly fries!” He exclaimed, coming up with the best analogy. “It’s the best thing ever!” He thought about what else he answered in these. “Clothes obsession is definitely the jacket from my Spiderman cosplay I did for ComicCon. It’s literally the most comfortable thing _ever_. I am so happy I made it the way I did. I’ve been wearing it around the house for days. And Scott keeps calling me Peter which is a bit annoying but also flattering so I don’t know what I’m feeling about that but there are no regrets about that jacket.” He thought for what the last one was. “And book obsession of the month is, of course, _The_ _Second Sword_ , the second book in _The_ _Warriors Three_ trilogy. I’ve been rereading it with excitement seeing as they start filming for the movie next week and I am so fucking excited to see it. And yes, my obsession with Derek might have something to do with it but _shhhh_.” Stiles shh’ed jokingly. “That’s still a secret.” He winked. “I think that’s all the obsessions but I can’t remember so I’m going to just go with it and if I’m wrong, I’m wrong but whatever.” Stiles grinned at the camera and then yawned quick, knowing he’d cut that out too.

“Next question is…What is your opinion on soulmates?” Stiles sighed. “Wow. Getting deep already. Okay. Well, I definitely think they’re amazing. I know sets of soulmates that are the most adorable, loving couples I’ve ever met. My own mom and dad were totally disgusting lovebrids my entire childhood and at the time I thought it was disgusting but now, well now I kinda wish I could have that myself.” He glance down, forcing himself to not think about Derek and how he never would. Hopefully the fans would just interpret it as him being lonely instead of as what it really was: sadness that his soulmate hated him and he’d never get what he wanted in life. “Anyways, I love soulmates. I think they’re amazing. I know some people don’t love their soulmates and I have trouble understanding it but I can definitely accept it as well. People change and sometimes we can’t take it and we can’t love them but I think everyone should give their soulmate a chance. And before you all ask, I can’t wait to fall in love with the person I’m destined to be with because I know that they were meant for me and they will love me with everything they have and in return I will love them with everything I have.” Stiles smiled at the camera, hoping with everything in him that he didn’t look as broken as he felt.

***

Derek paused the video and stared at the screen of his laptop. Stiles looked broken and hurt, exactly how Derek felt. Stiles had just admitted to the world that he wished he had a soulmate to love and be adorable with and he never would because Derek’s an asshole.

It took Derek a long moment before he could pull himself together enough to reach forward and play the video, Stiles’s voice echoing out of Derek’s headphones and melting into his ears.

“Anyways, I love soulmates. I think they’re amazing. I know some people don’t love their soulmates and I have trouble understanding it but I can definitely accept it as well. People change and sometimes we can’t take it and we can’t love them but I think everyone should give their soulmate a chance. And before you all ask, I can’t wait to fall in love with the person I’m destined to be with because I know that they were meant for me and they will love me with everything they have and in return I will love them with everything I have.”

Derek paused the video again and took a deep, shuddering breath. This is why Derek wanted to give up his soulmate rights. For this. Because he wanted Stiles to feel free to go out and find someone else in the world. The real person the universe meant for him to love and hold for the rest of his life, because it wasn’t Derek. It couldn’t be Derek. Derek didn’t deserve a soulmate after everything he’s done and all the shit in his life. To bring Stiles in would be to hurt him even more and Derek couldn’t do that, no matter how much he wanted Stiles. He’d notice the man’s choice of words. ‘I can’t wait to fall in love with the person I’m destined to be with.’ He didn’t want to fall in love with his soulmate, he wanted to fall in love with the person he was meant to be with. It wasn’t Derek. It would never be Derek. And now Derek just needed to accept that.

Derek shot his hand forward and played the video, yanking his thoughts out of the pit he was digging himself inside his head and focused on the video again. He couldn’t tell you what Stiles said in the rest of the video or even what questions are asked, all he knew was that he was focused on the color of Stiles’s eyes, the moles on his face, the wide smile he easily gave to the camera, and the boisterous laugh he snorted out after a particularly weird question. He was focused entirely on Stiles, someone he would never have.

The next thing Stiles said that registered with Derek was that he was going to do a Live Show that Wednesday and he wanted to see everyone there to talk and hang out over the ‘interwebs’ as Stiles put it. Derek didn’t even have to look at his scheduale to know he was free. He’d made Laura make sure he was free every Wednesday night after he found out that that was when Stiles was going to be doing his Live Shows. Stiles called them ‘Hump Day Helpers’. Derek thought the name was stupid but it was Stiles and Derek knew he was going to be watching. He also knew he shouldn’t, but when does he ever do the smart thing in life? Never, that’s when.

***

“You sure you want to do this?” Scott asked, watching Stiles clean up the background of his bedroom to get ready for his live show.

Stiles shrugged, grabbing a dildo from the floor to get it out of the shot. “Shut up.” He said, pointing it at Scott. “I know you’re just trying to protect me, but stop. I can’t let them think something’s wrong. If they do, they’ll start wondering why I never show my arms anymore. That Obsessed you showed me already has. Apparently she liked my arms. I don’t know. All I know is that at some point, someone is going to figure out that I met my soulmate and then the questions are going to start rolling about why I, the guy most romantically in love with the idea of a forever love with a soulmate, is still single and avoiding telling anyone that I met the one meant for me.” Stiles sighed. “We act like this can stay secret forever, but it won’t and we all know it. This isn’t a secret that can be kept forever. I’m just going to have Lydia help me out with hiding it for a little longer.”

“Please stop gesturing with your dildo.” Scott sighed. He loved Stiles, the boy was his best friend since practically birth, but he really hated his openness about his ‘Stiles-time’.

Stiles glanced down as if noticing the plastic genitalia was still in his hands. “Sorry.” He threw it into the corner out of shot with the rest of his crap. “But you know what I said is true.”

Scott shrugged. “You said you wanted to hide it. This was your decision.”

“Well I couldn’t very well say the man I’ve been crushing on for the past two years, the unattainably gorgeous actor Derek fucking Hale is my soulmate and also an asshole.”

“You could.”

“And ruin his career? Scott, I’m an asshole but I’m not that much of an asshole.” Stiles reminded him. “Besides, it wouldn’t just be his career I’d be ruining. It’d be his sister’s and Erica’s and everyone else that knows about this and is helping keep it quiet. I can’t do that. Not to all of them.”

Scott sighed. “You’re too nice sometimes.”

“And too mean other times.”

“Yea.” Scott smirked.

“Look Scott, I’m fine.” Stiles smiled. “Seriously. Yea it hurts and it sucks but I control what I say to the fans and I’m going to be fine. We just have to keep this quiet. We’re already nearing two months in, there’s no turning back now.”

Scott nodded and walked over to pull Stiles into a hug. “Stay safe?”

“Stay sane.” Stiles smirked.

“Shut up.” Scott rolled his eyes.

“Never.” Stiles grinned back.

***

Derek checked the locks on all his doors before curling up on his living room couch with his laptop and his headphones. It was nearly seven and he’d been waiting all day to hear Stiles’s voice. He’d even managed to hold off on watching any videos or anything in the hopes of sticking to his regulated amounts of Stiles per day. Laura had noticed his slight obsession with his soulmate and suggested he tried to stick to a ‘diet’ of one half hour of Stiles videos a day so that he didn’t drive himself nuts obsessing over the man. Derek thought it was a good point and a good idea but some days, like live show days apparently, it was hard. He’d decided he could cheat just a little bit and take an hour on Wednesdays. It’s not like he doesn’t cheat on his _Warriors_ diet. Laura can yell at him later. If she ever finds out. Which she hopefully won’t. Because that would be bad.

Derek shook himself out of his head and looked at the screen, his heart skipping up in anticipation. It was two minutes to seven and Stiles has never been late. Derek knows. He stalked around on Tumblr and found a girl obsessed with Stiles and, after he got over the jealousy, he read everything she wrote about Stiles. It was very helpful.

At exactly seven o’clock the screen lit with a welcome sign and then Stiles’s face was on Derek’s screen and his voice crackled through the headphones.

“Hey guys!” He waved at the camera. “And Welcome to the Hump Day Helpers with me, Stiles Stilinski. Now, allow me to soothe your Hump Day blues.”

Derek snorted at the greeting but there was a wide grin on his face. He loved Stiles’s horrible, horrible jokes.

“Give me one second to tweet out that I’m hanging out with you guys and then I’ll get started on some of these questions already pouring in.” Stiles smiled at them before glancing away and typing on his phone for a minute. He looked back up with a grin. “Alright. Before we start, I need to tell you guys something. Something big. Like massively amazing and awesome, change the course of life, big.”

Derek’s heart squeezed as thoughts raced through his mind. Stiles isn’t yet bound by the contract. Was he seriously about to reveal them to the world just for fame on his channel? No. Derek refused to believe Stiles would do that. Stiles would never. Right?

Stiles grinned at the camera. “Allison and Lydia agreed to room with me and Scott this year!” He exclaimed happily.

The air rushed from Derek’s lungs in relief.

“Scott and I have been trying to get those two to agree to this for _months_.” He explained to the viewers. “We already have the apartment picked out and everything because it’s a three bedroom place with a gorgeous view and it’s the most gorgeous apartment ever but Scott and I’d never be able to afford it ourselves but now the four of us are going to live there and it’s going to be amazing, right?!” Stiles seemed to be very excited about this but Derek really wasn’t.

Derek couldn’t help but notice that Stiles said _three_ bedrooms. That means two people were rooming together and from what he knew of girls from his sisters, two girls would not fit into one room meant for only one person. A couple however, would fit perfectly.

“Now calm down guys.” Stiles smirked. “I’m sure you noticed the three bedroom part, but that’s a discussion for later in the show. Stick around if you want the explanation.” Stiles winked.

Derek saw an immediate change in the chat window at the bottom of the page as it was flooded with people shouting about what Derek remembered were called ‘ships’. A lot of them seemed to be saying ‘Sciles’ or ‘Stydia’ but Derek would like it very much for them to be wrong. He knows he has no claim to Stiles after everything that’s happened, but he would like to at least hold the illusion that Stiles might be single. He knew he was wrong with the dopey grin he got every time he said Scott’s name, but Derek still wanted to have hope. Maybe someday after Derek figures out how to not be an asshole and how to stop fucking everything up, maybe then they can be together. Until then, Derek will survive on the videos and the live shows.

***

Stiles was in the middle of a story about the antics of him and Scott on the road trip when he heard the door open. He turned with a grin when he saw in the viewer of his camera that it was Scott.

“Hey there Scottie boy!” He exclaimed. “Come say hello to the people!”

Scott walked over with a smile and bent down behind Stiles, who was sitting at the desk. “Hey guys.” He smiled.

“Did you need something?” Stiles asked, looking up at him.

“Yea Allison told me to tell you that if you ever eat her steak again she’ll turn you into a nice fillet.”

“So long as she doesn’t serve it to my dad.” Stiles grinned good-naturedly. This wasn’t the first time Stiles ate Allison’s food. It was always really good and he’d needed something to get him prepared for the live show.

Scott rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky she knows how close we are or you’d already be dead.”

Stiles laughed. “She’s just as weak to your puppy charms as anyone.”

Scott shrugged. “I’m definitely much weaker to hers.”

“That is definitely true.” Stiles agreed. He glanced back the computer, seeing the chat room exploding with a lot of ‘Scallison is real’ and ‘??????’. Stiles laughed. “Scott, I think it’s time you explained to the world what your relationship is with Allison and I.”

“I don’t have any relationship with you _and_ Allison.” Scott joked.

Stiles punched his arm.

Scott laughed and nodded. “Sure thing bro.” Scott pushed up his left sleeve and showed the mark to the screen. Stiles copied the movements and showed the camera a bare left forearm. Lydia really was a genius with makeup. It had been her idea to finally explain away the shipping rumors, saying it would be better for Stiles if he flirted with everyone and gained a lot of ships to keep people from thinking that he might have a soulmate already. He trusted her on things like publicity and things of the like.

“Sciles isn’t real guys.” Stiles pouted. “As much as it would be absolutely smashing if it were.”

Scott laughed. “Yea, our parents would’ve killed one or both of us as children if we’d been soulmates.”

Stiles snorted. “Ain’t that the truth. They’d have hated us as a bonded pair.”

“Anyways,” Scott grinned. “I’m with Allison guys. She’s awesome and amazing and she can cook a hell of a lot better than Stiles and I so I look forward to not eating exclusively pot noodles for the first month of college this semester.”

“Hey!” Stiles protested. “You love my pot noodles!”

“Not after fifteen nights of them in a row.”

“You may have a point there.” Stiles conceded after a moment’s thought.

It was Scott’s turn to snort in amusement. “May have?”

“Okay you definitely have a point now shut up bitch.”

“Nah.” Scott grinned. “I think I’ll finish that story you were telling them seeing as you were telling it completely wrong.”

“I was not!” Stiles exclaimed. “I was telling it exactly how it happened!”

“You were not!”

“Was to!”

“Nuh uh!”

“Yea uh!”

The argument dissolved into a pushing contest but both of them were laughing and neither of them cared. They were just happy to be happy.

***

Derek was sitting up sock straight on his couch, still staring at the screen as Stiles’s voice ran through his head. _‘Sciles isn’t real guys.’_ He was almost as shocked by that open declaration as he was by seeing Stiles’s _blank_ forearm. But he was an actor and he knew Stiles was a cosplayer and living with three others so he quickly decided it was make-up and pushed that thought aside to concentrate on the fact that _Stiles wasn’t dating Scott_.

“Holy shit.” Derek whispered. “This is what Erica meant when she called me an idiot.” Derek’s eyes went wide. “Erica!”

Derek scrambled to get his phone off the coffee table and then decided to text Laura first.

**To: Laura** _I was wrong. Scott and Stiles aren’t together. I fucked up. I hurt him for no reason._

For a moment Derek debated texting Erica an apology as well but decided against it. He may as well just face the music now. He took a deep breath before dialing her.

“Derek I am still pissed at you.” Erica said when she answered in lieu of a greeting.

“I fucked up and I know it.” Derek answered immediately.

Erica was silent for a moment before answering him. “Finally got your head out of your ass, eh?”

“Stiles does live shows on Wednesday and he just announced that he’s not only not with Scott but he’s also single.”

“I tried to tell you.”

“I know you did and I’m sorry.”

“I also told you I wasn’t helping you when you got hurt by this.”

“Erica please.” Derek begged. “I hurt him for no reason and I need to tell him I’m sorry. I know he won’t forgive me, he has no reason to, but I need to at least tell him. And I need you and Laura on this. You’re the only girls I can trust with this shit.”

Erica sighed. “Do you have any idea about what you plan to do to fix this?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing?”

“I just figured it out like a minute ago, so no.”

Erica sighed again. “Let me call Laura.”

Derek sighed in relief. “You’re the best Erica.”

“You owe me big time, bitch.”

“I know. I’ll pay it back. I promise.”

“I’ll call you soon.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re lucky I love you and that boy.” Erica told him. “Or there’s no way in hell I’d be helping you get him back.”

“I know.” Derek told her. “I’m an idiot and I’m sorry. Thank you.”

“Mhmm.” Erica said before hanging up.

Derek put the phone down and looked back at the screen where Stiles and Scott were finishing their short, impromptu wrestling match. Stiles was his soulmate and he’d fucked everything up. Now he needed to try and fix it. He needed to apologize.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone seeing Lydia and Laura's plan coming into play??? What do you guys thinkk is going to happen next?!


	8. Chapter 8

“Are you sure about this?” Laura asked, looking at her brother’s computer screen.

Derek nodded. “I need to tell him and he’s not going to get the message any other way.”

“But Der, this is dangerous.” Erica reminded him from the other side of him. “The entire world will see this.”

“I know.” Derek sighed. “But it’s the only option. He needs to know I’m serious about this.”

Laura sighed. “You’re ready for the blowback from your agency? And the producers?”

Derek shrugged. “I don’t care about it. I can handle them.”

“And the press?”

“They might be a bit more difficult to deal with.” Derek admitted.

“And you’re sure you want to do this?” Laura asked.

Derek nodded firmly. “He’s worth it.”

“You barely know him.” Laura reminded him.

“You were the one that suggested a public apology.”

“I didn’t mean it to be like this.” Laura sighed. “At least, not this pointed towards him.”

“I need it to be pointed towards him. I need him to know it’s _to_ him. He needs to know I’m sorry.”

“Derek, you’ve met him once. You don’t owe him anything.”

“And yet I shattered the dream he held his entire life.” Derek whispered. “All he wanted to do was find his soulmate and fall in love. I destroyed that dream for him. I deserve his hatred. I need to at least apologize.”

Laura sighed. “Fine. You should turn your phone off now though. Before you do this.”

Derek nodded. “Isaac might call you after this. I didn’t exactly tell him what I was planning and if I don’t answer, he’ll call you.”

“You didn’t tell Isaac?!” Erica exclaimed.

“I forgot.” Derek blushed.

Erica snorted. “You’re going to get yourself in trouble with everyone by the end of this, aren’t you?”

“He’ll get over it.”

Laura sighed. “Whenever you’re ready bro.”

Derek nodded. “Here we go.” Derek took a deep breath before hitting the final button and sending the message out onto the internet for everyone to see.

***

“STILES!”

Stiles tossed his laptop to the side, shot out of bed, tripped on his sheets and blankets, landed on his face, scrambled back to his feet, and raced out of his bedroom to get to Scott in the living room. “What’s going on?!” He demanded. “Who’s dying?!”

“No one.” Scott said, looking confused. “Why’s your face got a carpet imprint on it? Did you fall over again?”

“You shouted my name like someone was dying!”

“No I didn’t.”

Stiles growled. “What do you want? I was editing.”

“You’re going to want to see this.” Scott told him, gesturing to the TV, which was paused on some trashy celebrity news program.

“I don’t care who Bristol Palin’s baby daddy is.” Stiles said immediately.

“It’s Derek.” Scott told him.

Stiles sat down. “Play it.”

Scott smirked but played it.

“Derek Hale, the famous actor behind the character of Jack in the recent film _The Warriors Three_ , has started quite the controversy today.” The woman on screen fake-smiled.

“Oh shit god please no.” Stiles whispered, staring at the screen.

“It’s not what you think.” Scott told him. “Watch.”

Stiles took a deep breath and kept watching, trusting Scott not to lie to him.

“This afternoon Derek Hale tweeted something that has confounded everyone and has refused to comment on it since then. What did he do you ask? Take a look.”

Stiles stared at the screen as a snapshot of a tweet from Derek’s account filled the screen. “Holy shit.” He whispered.

The woman came back on. “No one as of yet has managed to figure out what this message means or to whom the message is for but there is one thing that we can be sure of, something is happening in the life of Derek Hale and I think we’re all looking forward to seeing just how it’s going to turn out.” The segment ended and Scott muted it as another anchor started talking about some recalled carrots.

“Holy fuck.” Stiles gasped.

“Yea.” Scott agreed, just as quiet.

“Where’s Lydia?”

“Dinner with someone important.” Scott shrugged. “She didn’t say but she was dressed up very terrifyingly professional.”

“We need her on this.”

“I agree.” Scott nodded.

“We shouldn’t do anything until then, right?”

“I don’t know.”

Stiles looked at Scott, eyes wide in confused terror. “Scott. What the fuck is this supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s obviously me, right?” Stiles asked. “I’m not just projecting or something.”

“I think so.” Scott told him. “You were dressed as Spiderman when you met him. I think it’s a message to you.”

“Holy fuck.”

“You said that already, but it’s a good sentiment I think here.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t know either.”

“Why so publicly?”

“Maybe he wanted to make sure you’d see it?” Scott suggested. “It’s not like he can know you’ve been keeping up on everything he’s doing.”

“But this?” Stiles asked. “It’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?”

“Maybe he wants you to know he means it?”

“I don’t know.” Stiles sighed. “I’m so confused.”

Scott leaned over and hugged him tight. “It’s going to be alright. I know it.”

***

“James is pissed at you.” Laura declared, hanging up the phone.

Derek shrugged, staring at his laptop on the floor in front of him. He was watching the live stream responses to his tweet earlier that day, trying to gauge the fans’ reactions. Most of them were confused and concerned for him but also happy and supportive of him. Others were angry and demanding to know what’s going on and threatening the mysterious Spiderman for hurting Derek. Those were the ones Derek was most upset by. “I don’t really care what James thinks.”

Laura sighed. “Derek.”

“Laura.” Derek sighed back.

“The agency is demanding that you come in and explain yourself to them.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You’re bound by contract, Derek.” Laura reminded him. “You don’t have a choice.”

“Can’t you just tell them enough that they leave me alone? Like say that I met someone, liked them, and then fucked it up so I need to apologize to them for everything I did?”

“I tried.” Laura told him. “They’re insisting on a meeting.”

Derek sighed. “I guess we knew this was coming.”

“Just stick to the same story and continue letting them think that Stiles isn’t a threat to you or the company, okay?” Laura asked. “And try not to talk about this without anyone else in the media, okay? You got your message out there and now we need to let the storm calm down again before we can do anything else. They can’t find out that you’re still moping over _him_ after we told them you both decided to stay platonic and secret so you could date anyone you wished because you have no feelings for him.”

Derek nodded. “Okay. I can do this. I have to, right?”

“If you want to keep them away from him and his friends, this is what you’ll have to do.” Laura confirmed.

“Okay.” Derek nodded, steeling himself. “Tell James I’ll see him tomorrow for lunch.”

“You’re lunching with Erica tomorrow to show your face in public as happy and put together after this fucking stunt on Twitter.” Laura reminded him.

“Right.” Derek remembered. “Afternoon meeting then?”

“That’s fine.” Laura smiled. “I’ll set it up and let you know.”

“Thanks sis.”

“You’re so lucky I love you.”

“I know.”

***

“I cannot believe this.” Allison whispered, staring at the computer screen that sat between her and Scott.

“I know right?” Scott responded, staring at the screen and absentmindedly scratching at Stiles’s ankle next to him. The other boy was sitting in the armchair Scott was leaning against, coming down from a small panic attack. “I can’t believe he did it.”

“I can’t believe his sister let him.” Allison told him.

“I can’t believe we’re still all saying we can’t believe it.” Lydia sighed from above Scott. She was curled up in Stiles’s lap, running her hands through his hair to pull him out of his mind and keep him calm after the panic attack he had earlier. “It happened, we can see it. Now we need to deal with it.”

“How?” Scott asked.

“Read it to me again.” Lydia told him.

Scott nodded and took a deep breath. “@Derek_Hale: Hey Spiderman, I’m sorry for what I did and said. I didn’t know the whole story. I can only hope that one day, you will forgive me.”

Lydia sighed. “It’s definitely meant for Stiles then.”

“How do you know?” Stiles whispered.

“He’s an asshole, but I don’t think he’s that much of an asshole to require a public apology on twitter to anyone else that dresses as Spiderman for fun.”

Stiles groaned, squeezing Lydia’s hand between his.

Lydia scratched her nails across his scalp. “Stop that.” She ordered. “You’re going to break my nails.”

“Sorry.” Stiles smiled, loosening his hold before sighing. “I’m just a little freaked out here.”

“Why?” Lydia asked.

“Well because my soulmate who hates me apparently doesn’t hate me and decided to tell me that by apologizing to me on the internet for everyone in the fucking world to read.”

Lydia shrugged. “At least he apologized, right?”

“She’s right Stiles.” Allison nodded. “This is good.”

“How is it good?” Stiles asked her.

“Well it could mean that he’s sorry for what he did and is willing to try and at least know you.” Allison told him. “I mean, he can’t be that bad, right?”

“I don’t know.” Stiles muttered. “I don’t know if I could even stand to see him without hearing him telling me that it’s better if we both pursue other romantic relationships instead of even trying to get to know each other.”

“You don’t want to even give it a shot?” Scott asked.

Stiles shrugged. “You know how much I loved him before all this.”

Scott nodded.

“And the sad thing is that I think I still love him.” Stiles admitted. “In that sad sort of way where I know he’ll never even know me but I love him anyways because he’s not just a great actor, he seems like a great guy and he’s my fucking soulmate and I always knew I’d fall hard for whoever that ended up being.”

“You could meet with him.” Allison suggested. “Talk about the message. Maybe change your minds about the plan for your bond.”

Stiles tensed up. “I don’t know.”

“We’d go with.” Lydia told him immediately. “I don’t think any of us want you alone with him after this. And after _him_.”

Stiles smiled at her, grateful beyond words. “Thanks Lyds.”

“Yea we can double date or something.” Scott smiled. “We’d leave you two be at a table by yourselves but we’d be nearby in case you need us.”

“Is that what you want?” Allison asked, looking at Stiles.

Stiles bit his lip. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to decide now.” Lydia assured him, scratching his scalp in small circles to reassure him. “You’re fine taking some time.”

Stiles nodded. “Thanks Lyds.”

“You said that already.”

“I know.” Stiles smiled at her. “But thanks.”

“Let me know when you decide and I’ll get in touch with Laura and talk, okay?”

“Okay. Speaking of Laura, the contracts?”

“She’s working on it.” Lydia told him.

“Okay.” Stiles breathed deeply.

“It’s going to be fine Stiles.” Lydia smiled. “I know it will. We came up with a better solution. We’re going to sign the confidentiality agreements in a few days and he’ll do the same, that’ll stop him and anyone associated with him from outing you two to the media. Hopefully that’ll keep you safe until we can get the final contract signed.”

“Okay.” Stiles sighed in relief.

“Everything’s going to be okay, Stiles.” Scott smiled. “We’re going to get through it all together. Just like we always have.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Derek's plan was revealed!


	9. Chapter 9

“Derek, you won’t believe this.” Laura declared, bursting into his trailer on set.

“What?” Derek asked, opening his eyes to look up at her from his spot on the floor.

“Stiles wants to talk to you.”

Derek stared at her. “What?”

“He saw your message.” Laura smiled. “And his Lydia girl just called me and said he is willing to see you and talk, but his friends are required to be there.”

“Anything.” Derek answered immediately.

Laura smiled. “I’m sending Erica and Boyd along with you.”

“I don’t need them.”

“Yes, you do.” Laura told him. “Don’t argue.”

“Why?”

“Because I want you to have someone there who knows what the fuck you’ve been through in life so they can help you if you start freaking out. Stiles is taking three people along, you can take two. I’d send Isaac along as well but he isn’t getting back till next week. Okay?”

Derek looked away, knowing Laura was right. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” Laura sighed. “Now we need to talk about this.”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Well the fact that you didn’t text me this afternoon after your meeting with James so I’ve been worried sick all afternoon is probably a good place to start.”

Derek blushed. “Sorry Sis.”

“Don’t apologize to me baby bro.” Laura sighed. “Just tell me what happened and then we’ll discuss this meeting with Stiles.”

“Well my lunch with Erica went well.” Derek smiled. “There were paparazzi everywhere and she made sure I was always smiling and laughing and looking normal and happy and I said nothing to the people with cameras at all.”

“Good.” Laura smiled. “And James?”

“He asked a lot of questions.” Derek admitted. “But I think I did okay.”

“What’d you say?”

“I told him what we talked about.” Derek told her. “The message was to someone I met at Comic Con who was dressed as Spiderman and I liked them and I fucked it up so I needed to apologize but I didn’t have his number so I decided Twitter was the best place to do it. He did ask if the Spiderman in question was Stiles but I told him it wasn’t.”

“Okay good.”

“Are we okay then?”

“I hope so.”

“We need to be if I’m meeting him. I don’t want to drag him into this.”

“I know.” Laura sighed. “I’m figuring out how to get you and him together to talk without getting the paps’ attention. Lydia’s helping me get everything set and we hope to get you meeting soon but in the meantime, there’s something else.”

“What?”

“We need to sign the confidentiality agreements.”

“I thought we couldn’t.”

“We can’t sign the one signing away your soulmate rights, but the confidentiality agreements are separate from that. We need to sign them so if James and those other assholes figure us out, they can’t touch him. Okay?”

Derek nodded. “When?”

“Two days.”

“Can we meet and then sign them wherever we meet?”

Laura bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’ll see.”

“Okay.”

Laura nodded. “Okay.”

“We good then?”

“For now.” Laura smiled. “For now we’re fine.”

Derek smiled gratefully at his sister. “Thank you Laura. For everything.”

“Do me a favor and don’t fuck it up again, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Promise?”

“I promise to try.”

“Good enough.”

***

“Are you seriously going to do this?” Scott asked, looking nervous.

“I think I need to.” Stiles nodded, looking at himself in the mirror. He wasn’t sure about this shirt and he sighed as he decided it wasn’t right and started unbuttoning it again. “I need to know for sure that he’s not my soulmate.”

“I thought you were over him.” Scott scowled. “You and I drank vodka shots on it, remember?”

Stiles smiled. “I know. But can you blame for wanting to make sure? It’s Derek fucking Hale.”

Scott scoffed. “He’s a fucking asshole.”

“I know, but maybe there was a reason?” Stiles suggested hopefully as he grabbed another shirt.

“You just want to see him again, don’t you?”

Stiles blushed. “Yea. Pretty much.”

Scott sighed. “You’re lucky I love you.”

Stiles grinned at him. “I know. Now what do you think?” He asked, holding up another shirt.

“Stiles, I am not the person to ask about this.”

“Right.” Stiles nodded. He went over to the bedroom door and opened it. “Lydia?!”

“What Stiles?” Lydia called back, already knowing what Stiles wanted.

“Come help me?!”

Lydia’s sigh was audible throughout the house. “I’ll be right there.”

Stiles smiled happily as he pulled his head back into the room. “Lydia’s gonna come help.”

“I don’t understand why you’re trying to look so good for a meeting with the guy who legit broke your heart.”

“It’s not about looking good for _him_.” Stiles told him. “It’s for me. If I go there and he’s all dressed up and looking nice when I’m not, I’m going to feel like shit about my own appearance. Even if he doesn’t look all dressed up and nice, I’m going to feel like shit about my appearance. I need all the help I can get.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Lydia sighed, coming into the room. She immediately spotted the shirt in Stiles’s hand and made a face. “No.”

“But-?”

“No.” Lydia said firmly. “Put it down.”

Stiles sighed and put the shirt down on his bed with all the other rejects.

“You’re so fucking hopeless.” Lydia muttered as she went to his closet. “No idea how the fuck I even let you film videos in half this shit.”

“You love me?”

“Not even then.”

Stiles bit his lip, glancing at Scott, who raised his hands in a look that clearly said ‘don’t even think about dragging me into this’. Stiles sighed, resigning himself to his fate. He regretted it almost instantly when Lydia seemed to straighten up with surprise and happiness before turning to him with a shirt in hand. “Lydia.” He said slowly.

“Don’t you dare.” Lydia told him. “You will not look like a homeless douchebag today. You don’t have a choice. This is what you’ll wear.” She glanced at his pants. “And you’re changing your pants as well.”

“But that shirt’s too small.”

“No Stiles, it _fits_.” Lydia told him. “I know it’s a strange concept, but clothes can do that. And today, you’re wearing clothes that fit.”

Stiles opened his mouth again to argue but was silenced before he could even speak by a sharp look from Lydia. “Don’t talk Stilinski. Just put this shirt and those black jeans I got you for Christmas on that hot little body you’ve got and then get it downstairs. We need to get going.” She looked at Scott and he immediately fled the room. She smiled. “Get dressed Stiles. And stop freaking out. It’s going to be fine.”

Stiles smiled at her, calmed by her easy and confident assurance. “Thanks Lyds.”

Lydia nodded. “Get dressed.”

Stiles nodded back. “See you downstairs.”

“You’re going to be fine, Stiles. I know you will.”

***

“Derek, stop that.” Erica snapped.

“Sorry.” Derek mumbled, pulling the edge of his sleeve out of his mouth again.

Erica sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. You’re just freaking me out with all your freaking out.”

“Sorry.” Derek said again.

“Stop apologizing.” Boyd ordered. “It’s annoying.”

“Sor-” Boyd cut Derek off with a smack to the head.

“Stop.”

Derek smiled. “Sorry.” He said quickly.

Boyd growled at him.

“Enough boys.” Erica smirked. “No bloodshed before dinner.”

“Afterwards?” Boyd and Derek asked together.

“Not the face.” Erica told them.

Derek chuckled and Boyd just rolled his eyes before getting serious again. “Thanks for doing this guys.”

“Anything for you.” Erica grinned. “Besides, I wanna see that adorable dimpled one again.”

Boyd growled again and it was Erica’s turn to roll her eyes before leaning over and kissing Boyd’s cheek. “Stop it.”

Boyd smiled again.

Derek laughed at the content face. “You two are adorable.”

“I know.” Erica grinned happily. “And one day you will be as well.”

“Nope.” Derek said immediately. “Never.”

“Mhmm.” Erica smirked. “Mr. I-watch-chick-flicks-with-my-chick-best-friend-when-she’s-drunk-as-fuck-without-complaint.”

“You’re persistent when you’re drunk.” Derek defended.

“She’s always persistent.” Boyd corrected. “She gets persistently clingy as a drunk.”

Derek pointed at him. “That is the truth.”

“You two are mean.” Erica pouted.

“Yup.” Derek agreed. “And so are you.”

“Only when you deserve it.” Erica told him. “Like these days.”

“Erica.” Boyd said, voice warning.

“It’s the truth and he knows it.” Erica declared, staring at Derek. “Right Der?”

Derek sighed. “I know I was an idiot. I’m trying to fix it.”

“And that’s the only reason I didn’t punch you when you called me.” Erica told him.

“Glad to know you love me.”

“I love you more than you know, and that’s why I would’ve punched you.”

“She punches things she loves.” Boyd told him. “My arm was bruised after we got together.”

Erica responded to this declaration by punching Boyd in the arm.

Boyd just laughed and rubbed his arm.

“Like I said, adorable.” Derek smirked.

Erica rolled her eyes. “Are you ready to do this?” She asked, looking out the window as the car stopped outside the diner they were meeting in.

Derek nodded firmly. “Let’s do this.”

“Here we go then.” Erica took a deep breath before nodding at Boyd. “Lead the way handsome.”

Boyd rolled his eyes but got out of the car, his face dropping easily from the smiling friend he was in the car to the intense bodyguard paid to keep Derek and Erica safe. He looked around for a moment before ushering the two actors from the car and towards the diner doors. Erica and Derek linked arms as soon as they left the car and headed for the doors, smiling at anyone that openly stared at them. When they entered, the hostess’s eyes lit up.

“Derek! Erica!”

“Hey Cat.” Derek smiled, hugging her quickly.

“Hey Caitlyn.” Erica grinned. “Got our spot?”

“Always.” Caitlyn grinned. “And I heard four more are coming as well?”

“They’ll know to ask for us.” Erica assured her. “Just bring them back when they get here?”

“Of course.” Caitlyn grinned. “Right this way.”

“How’s Emily?” Derek asked as they followed her.

“Amazing.” Caitlyn grinned. “She and the baby are both happy and healthy.”

“I’m glad.” Derek grinned back, happy she and her family were doing well. “Did you get the gift we sent?”

“Yes. Emily adores it. She says it’s the softest blanket she’s ever felt.”

“Good. It was supposed to be the best and that’s what that little angel deserves.”

“You’re too good to them.”

“Never such a thing.” Derek smiled.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes as they went into the small back room and she gestured to their table. “Someone will be back to take your orders in a minute.”

“Thanks Caitlyn.” Derek smiled.

“Of course Derek.” Caitlyn smiled fondly before leaving.

“She’s awesome.” Erica declared as they went to sit down at the small table on one side of the room.

“Yep.” Derek smiled. “And Emily is even better. But don’t tell her I said that.”

“Of course not.” Erica smiled. “I’d never.”

“What?” Derek asked, confused by the look on Erica’s face.

“I forget sometimes that you have friends outside this world.”

“They’re amazing.” Derek smiled, his face soft as he thought of the baby. “And that baby is so adorable.”

“You’re such a sucker.” Erica rolled her eyes.

Derek shrugged. “That child deserves all the spoiling and presents.”

“You’re wrapped around her little fingers.”

“Yep.” Derek grinned.

Erica smiled and then bit her lip as she remembered why she was here. “Are you ready for this?”

Derek’s smile slipped away and he bit his lip as well, worrying it with his teeth for a moment before speaking. “I don’t know. But I know I’m going to do it whether I’m ready or not.”

“Okay.” Erica nodded. She looked at Boyd, who was standing near the doorway. “Boyd, dear, you’re not on duty in here. You can sit down.”

“I’ll wait till they get here.” Boyd told her.

“Boyd.” Derek pleaded. “Please?”

Boyd glared at him. “Don’t.”

Derek smiled. “Please?”

“I hate you.” Boyd declared, walking in and sitting down.

“Thank you.” Derek and Erica chorused together.

Boyd just rolled his eyes and ordered, “Shut the fuck up.”

“You love us.” Derek smiled.

“Nope.” Boyd decided.

“Fine.” Erica declared. “I’ll just go home with Dimples.”

Boyd glared at her. “Don’t even think about it.”

“I knew you loved me.”

Boyd smiled, his gaze immediately softening. “Shut up.”

“No thanks.” Erica smiled, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

“Good to see you got comfortable without us.”

All three of them turned to the door to see Stiles standing there with Scott, Allison, and Lydia standing around him.

Derek could feel his heart skip a beat as he stared, for the first time in a month and a half, face to face with his soulmate. He’d thought that with his habit of watching Stiles’s videos, he’d be prepared for seeing him in person again. He was wrong. Stiles was gorgeous. He was dressed in a red button up that fit him perfectly, almost as if it had been tailored to his exact measurments with the way it clung to him and showed off the muscles Derek hadn't even known he had with the layers he always wears in his videos. And Derek wasn't even going to let himself look at Stiles's legs in the black jeans he was wearing, he wouldn't be able to stop looking. Derek stared for a long moment before he found his lungs hurt a little bit all of sudden and he realized he’d been holding his breath. He let it out quickly, gasping out the only thing he could think of.

“You look better in person.”

The silence that followed was deafening as Erica and Boyd looked exasperated, Scott and Allison looked confused, Lydia looked annoyed and Stiles, well Stiles had such a mixed up combination of emotions on his face, Derek couldn’t tell what he was feeling.

“Well, let’s get going then.” Scott declared, breaking the silence with a clap of his hands. “I know we’d all like to get this sorted out.”

“Well hello again.” Erica grinned, giving a little wave. “I’d say it’s good to see you all again, because it really is, but I’d rather it not have been in this situation.”

“Same for us.” Allison smiled, blushing a little bit. This was her favorite actress in the world telling her she was happy to see her again. She was allowed to be embarrassed and excited about this.

“Well hopefully this will be fine soon.” Lydia smiled. “What’s the plan?”

“Stiles and Derek are gonna talk here.” Erica told her. “We’re going to be just outside the room so they have their privacy.”

Derek couldn’t help the small movement Stiles made as he grabbed Scott’s arm. The other boy immediately turned to him, murmuring assurances Derek couldn’t hear across the distance.

“I don’t mind if you want someone here.” Derek spoke up, looking at Stiles.

Stiles looked at him, eyes wide. He seemed to consider it for a moment before shaking his head. “If something happens, Scott will know.”

Derek didn’t quite understand what that meant but he nodded. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“No, I need to.” Stiles told him. “And I’m betting you need to as well.”

Derek smiled a little but nodded. “I’d like to, yes. But your comfort is also important.”

“Oh just sit down and talk already.” Erica declared. “I wanna get some food and talk to Adorable Dimples over there.”

“Erica.” Boyd growled.

Erica laughed and kissed his cheek. “Love you too.”

No one said anything as Erica and Boyd got up, leaving the room with the other three that accompanied Stiles, all but Boyd giving Stiles a hug before they left. When they were gone, Stiles turned to look at Derek.

“Hi.” He whispered.

Derek smiled. “Hi.”

“So…now what?”

“Can we talk about this?”

Stiles nodded, walking over slowly. “You already apologized, but what exactly were you apologizing for?”

Derek sighed, putting his elbows on the table and then dropping his head into his hands. “I was a bit cold to you the first time we met and it took me a while to realize that I was actually wrong about some things and you never deserved any of this. It’s all my fault and I’m sorry.”

“What did you think that ended up being wrong?”

“I thought you were dating Scott.”

“Scott?” Stiles asked. “He’s with Allison.”

“I didn’t know that at the time.” Derek explained. “I saw him comforting you and I jumped to conclusions.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why’d you jump to that conclusion? Why didn’t you ask? Why’d you reject me like you did? Just, why?”

Derek sighed. “I-It’s a bit of a story. A long one.”

“I’ve got time.” Stiles shrugged.

Derek nodded. “I don’t know if I can tell you everything but the jist is that my love life has been one of the worst to ever happen and I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my time. In my sister’s words: ‘I’m a self-depreciating asshole who wouldn’t take a good thing if it was given to him at gunpoint’. And she’s not really wrong.”

Stiles smiled a little. “I know how you feel. I’ve had a bad past too.”

“Maybe one day we could tell each other the stories?”

“Maybe.” Stiles agreed. “But what now?”

“I pushed for platonic because I didn’t think I could handle a relationship, especially one as important as a soulmate bond. And I still geel that way.” Derek told him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I don’t know.” Derek admitted. “I just know I don’t want you to not be a part of it.”

“That’s a double negative.” Stiles smiled.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“I don’t want to spend my time missing you again.”

“You missed me?”

“I’ve watched pretty much every video you’ve ever made, minus a few. In the time span of the last month and a half.” Derek admitted, blushing bright red.

“Are you serious?”

Derek shrugged, looking embarrassed. “I wanted to learn more about you.”

“By stalking me?”

“I tried to convince myself it was just getting to know you but…”

“But online me isn’t the real me.” Stiles finished. “Just like Lydia doesn’t always have twenty minutes of make-up on or the best, most put together outfits.”

“I know. My sister kindly pointed out to me that what you do is similar to what I do.” Derek told him. “Except you’re seen as that character whereas I’m not.”

“Exactly.” Stiles nodded. “It’s kind of annoying but I love my job.”

“I want to get to know you. The real you. If that’s okay.”

Stiles smiled. “I’d like that. So long as I get to meet the real you. Not the Derek you show to the media.”

Derek smiled back. “It’s a deal.”

“Good.” Stiles took a deep breath. “Now that that’s covered, can I ask something?”

“Anything.”

“Why’d you want the confidentiality agreements?”

Derek looked down at the table. “For you.” He mumbled.

“What?” Stiles asked, not having heard it.

“For you.” Derek repeated, looking back up at him. “I wanted the NDA’s and I wanted to sign my rights away because I was trying to protect you. I’m still trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

“James.”

“Who?”

“My boss at the agency.” Derek explained. “They’re horrible people. Some of the worst in the business. And I had to tell them I met you and now they know you’re out there and I don’t want them getting to you.”

“What’s so bad about them?” Stiles asked, slightly scared by Derek worried tone.

“They’d do anything to make money.” Derek told them. “Including pulling a simple Youtuber out of his life and forcing him into the spotlight if it meant increasing publicity for the second _Warriors_ move.”

Stiles’s eyes widened in fear. “I thought Lydia was joking when she said people do that.”

“She might’ve been.” Derek shrugged. “But it happens more often than anyone would like. And my agency is known to be one of the worst when it comes to this. It’s another reason I pushed you away like I did. I had to tell them about my mark appearing so they could find people good enough at keeping secrets to cover it during movies and any red carpet things I need to go to.”

“You’d hide the mark?”

“You did.”

Stiles’s mouth dropped. “What? You saw that?”

Derek blushed. “It’s sorta how I figured out the whole ‘you not dating Scott’ thing.”

Stiles chuckled. “Lydia helped me with it.”

“I figured.” Derek smiled. “And I don’t mind. I’ll have to do the same thing.”

“Why?”

“Think about it.” Derek told him. “Before you met me, how would you have reacted if I’d shown up to a red carpet event with a soul mark on my arm but nobody with me?”

“I would’ve wondered who it was and why they weren’t there.” Stiles answered slowly. “But I would have respected your privacy.”

“Not everyone’s like you though.” Derek pointed out. “And not everyone would stop at the passive curiosity. I’d never be left alone. And neither would anyone around me. Not until they knew. And even then, it’d never stop. My soulmate would never be left alone again. _You_ will never be left alone again. I don’t want that for you.”

“I already get mobbed by fans, how much worse can it be?”

“It’s not just fans. It’s cameras. Reporters. Paparazzi that won’t stop until they get the biggest story out there. They will dig up every last thing in your past if you step into their focus and I don’t want that for you. Or anyone.”

Stiles was silent for a long moment before letting out a breath. “Well, thank you. I guess.”

“You’re my soulmate.” Derek shrugged.

“And this is why we needed the NDAs?”

Derek nodded. “I’m bound to my agency by my contract and with that I signed away a few things I shouldn’t have as it was before Laura was my manager and legal counsel and I was very dumb and I didn’t read it very thoroughly. If they were to order me to expose you for publicity for the movie, I’d have to do it. But if we had NDAs already, I wouldn’t be able to and they wouldn’t be able to order me to.” Derek explained. “So far they haven’t done it because Laura and I told them that you were dating Scott, because I thought you were, and they have the idea that it would be worse to bring you out because it would be like me using soulmate rights to tear you away from your current relationship and no one likes that idea. I’ve done everything I can to stop them from getting to you. But they will figure this out. They will realize that I lied about not caring about you and that I lied about your relationship and they will try to use you and I don’t want them to hurt you. So I needed the NDAs to keep you safe. To keep all of you safe. And I wanted to sign away my soulmate rights to strengthen that even more. Without those rights, they can’t make me ask you to see me, ask you to come out with me, I can’t see you in the hospital or hear anything about you. It’d make the story that I didn’t care that much stronger.”

Stiles stared at him. “I-I don’t know how to react to this.”

Derek shrugged. “You don’t need to. I just don’t want you thinking I’m doing it for my own good. Well, I might be but I need you safe and this is what keeps you safe.”

“Thank you then.”

Derek nodded. “So I answered your question, will you answer one of mine?”

Stiles nodded. “It’s only fair.”

“Why are they so protective of you?”

Stiles sighed. “I’ve got my story, remember?”

“And they’re protective because of it?”

Stiles nodded. “Someone did a lot of damage to me and my, uh mental health? Yea. Basically they _majorly_ fucked me up because I fell for their fame instead of for them and shit went down like Donkey Kong and now they don’t like celebrities. Hence Lydia’s intense hatred for you and your sister. She doesn’t want me to end up like that again.”

“Wow.” Derek gasped. “I-I didn’t realize.”

“No one knows the story.” Stiles shrugged. “They weren’t particularly happy about my soulmate being a celebrity but Erica seems to be assuring them that there are at least some of you that aren’t assholes to anyone not famous.”

“So one day Lydia might not hate me?” Derek asked, trying to lighten up the conversation.

Stiles smiled a little. “Lydia doesn’t hate you.” He told Derek. “She just doesn’t trust you. But it’s not personal. The others don’t like you either, they just hide it more.”

“Thanks. That’s encouraging.”

“Don’t be worried.” Stiles assured him. “Allison loves Erica and for some reason Erica loves you. You’ll be fine soon enough.”

“Guess I’ll just have to stay on Erica’s good side then.” Derek smirked. “Just so she doesn’t ruin my rep.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, smiling a bit. “I’m not sure you need to worry.”

“Why not?”

“She loves you.”

“I think she loves you more at this point.”

“Really?”

“Yea.”

“Awesome.”

Derek snorted. “Stealing all my friends?”

“Allison’s doing the stealing, I’m just reaping the rewards.”

Derek laughed, a smile on his face. “Well then we better thank her.”

“Definitely.” Stiles smiled. “I think this could work with them on our side.”

Derek nodded in agreement.

Stiles seemed to hesitate for a moment before deciding to just go for it, steeling himself up, and holding out a hand. “Hi, I’m Stiles Stilinski. And I’d like to be your friend.”

Derek smiled wide, seeing what Stiles was doing. He reached out and grabbed his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Stiles. I’m Derek Hale. And I think I’d really like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! They figured there shit out! Or did they?


	10. Chapter 10

“So do you hate your choice yet?”

Derek rolled his eyes, smiling at Erica as he ate the last of his pastry he stole earlier. “Shut up.”

“I’m serious!” Erica exclaimed. “You seemed happy last week and I thought I’d question your sanity again, just in case.”

“Are you going to ask me that every week?”

“It’s only been three!” Erica reminded him. “And I didn’t even ask at all week one!”

“I’m fine.” Derek smiled. “Now let’s going. We’re needed at wardrobe in five or Sasha is going to _kill_ us.”

“She’ll kill _you_.” Erica corrected. “She loves me. I’ll just get told off.”

“Well how about I don’t die till after the third one gets filmed.” Derek suggested. “I think those assholes at the company would much prefer that.”

Erica snorted. “Who gives a shit what James and his asshole cronies want? They’re a bunch of asshole bullies who wouldn’t know a good thing if it shoved a cactus up they community asshole.”

“I’m going to ignore the community asshole part because that’s not something I want to picture and instead point out that a thing shoving a cactus up someone’s asshole would typically make a thing not good thing.”

Erica laughed. “You’re becoming more and more sarcastic by the day. I’m such a good influence on you.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “You’re a horrible influence.”

“Yup!” Erica declared cheerfully. Then she tilted her head. “So you’re seriously fine? Not going mad at all?”

“I’m fine.” Derek insisted with a grin. “Would I rather not be in the situation I’m in? Yes. Would I rather not have yet another fuck up in my past? Hell yes. Do I wish I could go back to the no contact deal we had going? Definitely not. This is better. This is _good_. I’m happy.” Derek shrugged. “And so is he. And he’s safe. So yea, I’m fine.”

“And you’re sure you don’t want me to tell you what his friends told me about him when we were eating together during your ‘talk’?”

Derek shook his head. “If he wants me to know something, he’ll tell me. If he doesn’t, then I don’t want to know it. I just started being friends with him, I don’t want to ruin it.”

Erica smiled fondly. “You love him.”

“I don’t think so.” Derek shook his head. “Not yet at least. But he is my soulmate and that gives me a connection to him. I want him to be happy and safe, especially seeing as it’s not his fault he’s getting dragged in to this horrible, abusive world.”

“Okay.” Erica nodded in acceptance. “I’ll accept that answer.”

“Accept it?”

“Of course.” Erica grinned. “I had to make sure you were still sane.”

“Is that your job now?”

“Obviously.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Come on. Sasha’s going to already be mad at us for being late.”

“She’ll be mad at _you_.” Erica corrected again.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Yep. But I’m yours.”

“I really hope not.”

Erica smirked. “Shut up and march bitch.”

Derek rolled his eyes but did as told, pushing off the wall, balling up the napkin still in his hand, and throwing it in a nearby trashcan before smiling at her. “Let’s go then. Last one there gets the second dressing room.”

Erica’s eyes went wide before she and Derek took off together, sprinting towards the wardrobe department.

***

“Stiiiiiiiillleeeesss.”

“Scott, I am _going_ to kill you.”

“I’m huunngrryyyyy.”

“Then go eat!”

“There’s nothing to eat!”

“And whose fault is that?!”

“Yours!”

Stiles looked up at his best friend, eyes obviously pissed.

Scott put his hands up in surrender. “Sorry.”

Stiles sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I know it’s my turn to get groceries. I just haven’t had the time.”

Scott got off the bed and draped himself over the back of Stiles’s desk chair. “Sorry for being impatient.” Scott told him, pressing his head against Stiles’s.

Stiles rolled his eyes and took his hand off his mouse to reach up and ruffle Scott’s hair. “I have to finish this bit and then I’ll go shopping. Think you can survive that long?”

Scott laughed. “I’m not about to die of starvation.”

“I don’t know man it seems like you’re getting pretty close to eating your own foot.”

“Oh god no.” Scott said, making a disgusted face. “I’d eat yours first.”

“Scott!” Stiles exclaimed.

Scott just cackled and ran from the room, knowing Stiles was too engrossed in his editing to chase him.

Stiles huffed in annoyance when Scott was gone before cracking his neck and going back to work. He needed to finish this section of video before he could stop. He needed this whole video to be done in two days. He needed to get to work.

***

“Derek? Derek?! DEREK!”

Derek started, pulling his mind back to the present to look at Sasha, who was standing in front of him. “What?”

Sasha sighed. “Derek, sweetie, I love you and I make it a mission not to stab you with pins during fittings, so if you could be a dear and keep your mind here during them, that’d be great.”

Derek blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Sasha smiled fondly. “I know how it feels to have a new bond. It’s hard not to get lost in the connection sometimes.”

“It’s not that.” Derek started to protest before Sasha patted his cheek.

“You’re fine sweetie.” Sasha told him. “No one here but me and Mindy know about the mark. We’re in charge of keeping it covered. Which is what I was trying to get your attention for.”

“What?”

“I need to look at your mark.”

Derek’s eyes went wide and he clapped his right hand down over his left arm.

“I know it’s hard.” Sasha soothed him, rubbing his hand above his mark. “But I need to see it so I can get an idea of how big it is and what shape so we can decide the best course of action for covering it.”

“I haven’t shown it to anyone yet.” Derek admitted in a whisper.

It was Sasha’s turn to widen her eyes in surprise. “No one?”

Derek shook his head.

“Is there a reason?”

Derek nodded.

“Do you want to tell me?”

Derek hesitated.

“You don’t need to.” Sasha told him quickly.

“It’s a little…special?”

“They’re all special sweetie.” Sasha smiled.

“I know but, it means something.”

Sasha nodded. “Are you comfortable showing me or do you want to do this so I don’t see it?”

Derek shrugged. “You won’t tell anyone, right?”

“I have a full confidentiality agreement with all my clients. Nothing I cover gets revealed.” Sasha confirmed. “Same with Mindy. Neither of us will ever tell anyone anything about what your mark is. Okay?”

Derek nodded. “Thank you.”

Sasha smiled fondly. “Is it okay for me to see then?”

Derek nodded again. “Don’t ask about it though?”

“Never do.” Sasha smirked. “I’ve covered enough of Erica’s ‘paintball’ bruises to never ask another question ever.”

Derek chuckled. “Sounds like them.”

“They’re not good about the whole ‘tank top wardrobe’ concept.” Sasha shrugged. “Everyone does it at some point.”

“Not me.”

“You’re special.” Sasha reminded him, turning away to gather up some materials, including a camera. She immediately saw Derek’s hand move to cover the mark’s spot again and smiled softly. “I’m not going to take a picture of your mark.” She assured him quietly. “I’m going to be covering it with some paste and taking pictures of measurements of the spot so we know how big it is and everything. Okay?”

Derek hesitated but nodded, moving his hand away again. “Sorry.”

“Never apologize for asking me not to do something that makes you uncomfortable.” Sasha told him. “I don’t do anything unless you’re okay with it.”

“Thank you.”

Sasha smiled. “Anything for my star, right?”

Derek blushed. “Shut up.”

“Nah.” Sasha grinned. “Teasing you is just too much fun.”

Derek pushed her arm and she laughed.

“Enough of that.” She smiled. “Hold still. I need to get this done so Mindy and I can send you and Erica on to the producers so you can get their final opinions on your outfits.”

“Do you really care what they think about the outfits?”

“Nope.” Sasha answered without hesitation. “You and I both know that Mindy and I only stuck around after the last movie for you and Erica. We couldn’t just abandon you two children to the monsters.”

Derek smiled. “Thank you Sasha. For all of this.”

“When you’re a millionaire and I want to retire, you can thank me by getting me a villa by the sea.”

Derek laughed. “Deal.”

“Good boy.”

***

“How’s life little brother?”

Stiles rolled his eyes, recognizing the smile on Lydia’s face when she walked into the apartment. “Lydia, I am not that much younger than you.”

“And yet wholly inexperienced in the world.” Lydia smirked, kicking off her high heels.

“Just because _you_ got hot in high school and _I_ got hot afterwards.” Stiles reminded her. “You’ve had more time to get ass.”

“And what ass it’s been.” Lydia sighed, happily dropping onto the couch.

“Who was it this time?” Stiles asked.

“Don’t know his name.” Lydia shrugged. “He was big and muscular and just what I needed to de-stress after the last month of _your_ shit.”

“This shit is not my shit!”

“Your soulmate!”

Stiles scowled at her. “Still not my fault.”

“I think it being your soulmate makes it your fault.”

“I claim no responsibility for it or him.”

Lydia smiled. “Him?”

“Yep.” Stiles grinned. “The hot-headed little shit my destiny decided I should try and fall in love with.”

“And have you?”

“Have I what?”

“Fallen in love with him?”

Stiles was silent for a long moment, thinking about the question he hadn’t let himself think about in the three weeks since he and Derek had their ‘Talk’ as everyone was calling it. “No.” He finally said. “Maybe I will someday, but right now I don’t even think I trust him all that much. I can’t love him. Not yet.”

Lydia smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yea. Okay.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means I’m glad I don’t have to kick your head in for falling in love with a man you had one intelligent conversation with not even a month ago. You’re allowed to be friends, not in love.”

Stiles laughed. “Oh okay. Thanks for the permission.”

Lydia grinned and rolled to her feet, sauntering over to press a kiss to Stiles’s temple. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” Stiles smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist to hug her tightly.

Lydia laughed. “And Derek thought you were dating Scott.”

“Hm?” Stiles questioned.

“We’re standing here, you in just your boxers and me in a cum-stained cocktail dress, declaring our love for each other after I told you that you aren’t allowed to love him.” Lydia explained. “It’s a wonder we ever managed to convince our fans we aren’t together.”

Stiles chuckled. “Well, when you put it that way.”

Lydia leaned down to kiss the top of his head again. “Let me go. I need a shower.”

“Yes you do.” Stiles agreed, his nose wrinkling up. “You stink.”

Lydia rolled her eyes and smacked his head. “Go find something to shove up your ass you little prick.” She ordered, pulling away and leaving.

“Already did that today!” Stiles called after her. “Twice before breakfast!”

“You’re a horrible person!” Lydia called back.

“You love me! You admitted it!”

“I admitted nothing!”

Stiles just laughed and went back to his work. School was going to start back up soon and while he was only a few credits away from his double degree, they were a few credits he couldn’t afford not to get.

***

Derek groaned as he let himself fall down onto his couch.

“I hear ya.” Erica gasped, falling onto the other couch. They’d gone for a run and were immediately regretting it.

“You two are weak.” Boyd smirked, still standing in the doorway. He was fine. “I go for longer runs for fun sometimes.”

“I hate you.” Derek gasped.

“No sex for you tonight.” Erica declared.

Boyd laughed. “Sweetie, I love you but you’re in no shape to fuck tonight anyways.”

Erica rolled her head around to glare at him without lifting up her head. Boyd just smiled back.

“Love you.” Boyd smiled.

“Hate you.” Erica scowled.

Derek rolled his eyes. “You love him.”

“I don’t!” Erica declared loudly. “I will never love him again for laughing at our pain.”

“Fine.” Derek sighed. He looked at Boyd. “Boyd, are you mine now?”

“Definitely.” Boyd smiled. “Will you love me in return?”

“Totally and absolutely.”

“Okay.”

Derek grinned. “Yaaaaaayyy.”

Boyd rolled his eyes. “Go shower Derek. I’ll take Miss. Hates-Me-Now home and get her in bed before tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?” Derek asked, face screwing up in confusion.

“Your final meeting with Sasha and Mindy in wardrobe and make-up to get the final versions organized and ready and you both have to be at the producers meeting tomorrow as their going to be doing the overall debriefing on the stunts for the movie.”

Derek groaned. “No stunts.”

“The stunts are the reason we do this.” Boyd reminded him.

“No the fact that Jack can’t keep his shirt on is the reason I do this. Erica does this because Caroline is a badass and super fit.” Derek reminded him.

“Thanks babe.” Erica smiled.

“Go home.” Derek told her.

Erica groaned. “I don’t wanna go home with him.”

“It’s spaghetti night.” Boyd reminded her.

Erica looked at him. “You cookin’?”

“Of course.”

Erica looked at Derek. “I’m leaving you and reclaiming him.” She looked at Boyd and raised her arms. “Onwards noble steed.”

Boyd rolled his eyes but walked in to pick Erica up and then smiled at Derek. “See you tomorrow.”

“Are you picking me up?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.” Derek smiled. “See you then?”

“Byyeee sweetie.” Erica grinned.

Derek rolled his eyes. “Get out weirdoes.”

“Goodnight Derek.” Erica smiled. “Sleep well. Don’t dream too much of Stiles.”

Derek blushed a little bit and threw a pillow at her. “Out!”

Boyd left, carrying a cackling Erica away.

Derek just sighed and sank back into his pillows. That woman was going to drive him made someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So I know this update was a day late but I went to ComicCon in Chicago last week for two days and spent the whole week in Chicago with friends so I didn't have time to write so this one was short and a little boring but I promise next week things will happen, I just didn't have time to write things happening. Sorry!!


	11. Chapter 11

“How’s life treating you Derek?”

Derek plastered on his interview smile, setting himself before answering. “Pretty well Jon. The workout routine for _The Second Sword_ is tough, but it’s going to be rewarding once filming starts.”

“And that’s next week, isn’t it?” Jon asked with a smile.

“Yep.” Derek nodded. “After nearly three months of pre-production, filming starts bright and early Monday morning.”

“Are you excited?”

“Definitely.” Derek grinned. “Filming the last movie was a lot of fun and it’s going to be even more fun this time around seeing as we all already know each other and can just jump straight into the prank wars and the playful bickering that we had to work up to last movie.”

“Sounds like the movie set is a lot of fun.”

“It’s amazing.” Derek sighed. “A lot of work, more than you’d think, but my co-stars make it a lot of fun.”

“And speaking of your costars, you and Erica have been seen out and about together quite a lot lately and we all know what finally happens at the end of this book between the main characters, Jack and Caroline, is any of that bleeding into your real life?”

Derek bristled at the thinly veiled implications that Erica and him were together, despite it being common knowledge that Erica was bonded to Boyd, but he managed to hide his annoyance with a smile as he answered. “Erica and I are great friends and that helps a lot with portraying the easy bond between Jack and Caroline, but no we aren’t together in any way beyond that. Erica is very happily bonded to her bodyguard, Boyd, and I have never had any sort of feelings in the romance area for her so we’re all great friends and I love them both, but not like that.”

“Well if Erica is bonded to someone, is there someone in your life we should know about?” Jon asked, not-so-subtly glancing down at Derek’s arm. He was wearing long-sleeves under stage lights and hadn’t even made to push them up once yet.

Derek saw the barely hidden look towards his covered left arm and bristled again, but again kept it hidden. He was glad he was good at acting or his cover would’ve been blown a long time ago. “There’s no one.” Derek said, smiling. “I’m trying to focus on my career right now so I’m not even looking for my bond-mate at the moment. I know I’ll find them someday but I’m content to wait until it’s the right time.” Derek said the last sentence with a glance at the camera, having a feeling in his gut that Stiles was watching the live interview and a hope that Stiles would understand Derek’s message to him. He really was content with their situation. They were sort of friends now, three months in. It was good.

“But are you happy?” Jon asked.

“What?” Derek asked, confused.

“Content doesn’t always mean happy, Derek.” Jon smirked. “Are you happy?”

Derek bit his tongue so he didn’t swear at the man, knowing they wouldn’t hesitate to air the interview with the swear in, they’d probably enjoy it even. “I am very happy.” Derek declared with a smile. “I have no reason not to be.”

“Well that’s amazing.” Jon smiled. “I’m so glad you’re happy.”

 _I bet you are._ Derek thought angrily but kept his smile on. “Thank you Jon.”

Jon grinned. “Of course, Derek. Now, let’s get to the good stuff. What can you tell us about the _Second Sword_ movie?”

***

“Stiles!” Scott shouted. “It’s on!”

Stiles squeaked, scrambling out from under his three textbooks to run into the living room of the apartment.

“You’d think it was something important with the way he moves.” Lydia smirked, watching Stiles vault the couch and drop down next to Scott.

“Just our super famous almost friend in an interview.” Stiles grinned.

“And your bond mate.” Allison smirked, coming into the living room as well, albeit at a more sedate pace than Stiles.

Stiles shushed her with a grin. “Friend.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “Sit down and shut up.”

Everyone did as they were told as the interview came on.

“Hello everybody at home!” The interviewer grinned. “I’m Jon Relhead and I’m here _live_ with the amazing actor behind one of the hottest movies of today’s media, _The Warriors Three_. That’s right girls, I’m here with Derek Hale!”

The camera panned over the door where Derek walked out of, smiling and waving as all the girls in the audience went wild.

Jon got up and went to meet him, getting a hug before both of them sat down with smiles.

“It’s good to have you here, Derek.” Jon grinned.

“It’s good to be here Jon.” Derek smiled back.

“So, how’s life treating you, Derek?”

Stiles watched the interview in rapture, amazed at how well Derek was doing. Now that he was friends with Derek he knew Derek better as a person and he could tell that Derek did not like this Jon guy at all but he was hiding it very well. To anyone else, Derek seemed to be happy and enjoying himself but Stiles recognized the tense set of his shoulders. Derek looked like that every time the two of them even got close to anything that could even be construed as romantic. Stiles knew Derek was uncomfortable being around him, and he’d accepted that. He wasn’t truly comfortable around the other man either so it was fair that Derek didn’t trust him yet. Maybe someday they would, but for now he could handle the tense friendship they had, especially as he got to actually know the man and the side he hid from the press and everyone else in the world.

“Stiles?” Scott whispered.

Stiles smiled at him. “Yea?”

“You’ve been staring at the screen for like a minute. Derek’s gone.”

Stiles glanced back at the screen, noting that Derek was really no longer on the screen and they seemed to be quite into the next section as well. Stiles shrugged. “I got distracted.”

Scott rolled his eyes. “Well, keep that channel on, they said something about showing Derek live leaving the station in a few minutes. You always like seeing him with the fans.”

Stiles grinned. “That’s because he actually smiles sometimes around them.”

“He smiles around you now too.”

“Now.” Stiles repeated with an eye roll. “He still doesn’t like me.”

“You just started talking like three months ago.”

“And I’ve talked to him face to face all of two times in that time.” Stiles reminded him. “Scott, we aren’t like you and Allison. I don’t know if we’ll ever get past his past, whatever the hell it is, and we’ll _never_ fully escape mine.”

“You need to stop thinking about that asshole.” Scott spat. “He was gross and disgusting and not worth _any_ of your time, then or now.”

“I can’t just forget something like that.” Stiles sighed. “You know that.”

Scott sighed. “Yea, but I can hope, right?”

Stiles smiled. “Yea. We can all hope.”

***

“Derek, you ready to go?” Laura asked, barging in to her brother’s dressing room.

“Yea.” Derek sighed from the couch. “How’d I do?”

“You didn’t look like you wanted to slaughter the man.” Laura smiled.

“Good.” Derek smiled. “I hate being even in the same room as that guy and I had to _hug_ him.”

Laura snorted. “You survived, you little bitch. Now come on. There’s a huge crowd of girls outside waiting for you to leave and the cameramen want you to go too so they can broadcast it and then they can come inside and away from the screaming females.”

Derek groaned. “Do I have to go out there? Can’t I escape out the back?”

“Jon promised to broadcast you leaving live on television.” Laura reminded him. “So yes, you have to go.”

“I hate that man.” Derek spat.

Laura laughed. “Let’s go.”

Derek sighed, pushing himself off the couch. “Alright. Let’s get this over with.”

Laura rolled her eyes, leading her brother towards the doors. “Can you at least try to smile this time?”

“I will attempt to.” Derek promised.

Laura sighed. “Best I can hope for I guess.”

Derek smirked. “You know it.”

“Smile brother.” Laura smirked right back before pushing her brother outside without letting him prepare himself.

Immediately Derek was awash with the screaming of about a hundred girls who were all reaching out towards him, wanting to either touch him or get him to sign something. He took a quick moment to raise a hand against the sunlight and squinting, more against the sound then the light, before plastering on his best smile and moving forward towards a group of girls. He allowed himself to flow along the walkway, signing notebooks and pictures and everything else he was handed except skin and a bra, before he got stuck. A girl grabbed his sleeve and wouldn’t let go. He was frozen in place, terrified that if he moved the sleeve would pull up and reveal his forearm because it was his left arm and he’d chosen not to cover it that day, not thinking it was necessary. He looked frantically for Laura while he tried to get the girl off but before he could security was already stepping forward and pulling him away from her to push him towards her car. In the following few seconds, Derek’s life came crashing down around him as a few things happened in quick succession. First, his sleeve tore off entirely, leaving his entire left arm bare to the world. Two, camera flashes overwhelmed his sight and were suddenly the only thing he could pay attention to. Three, Laura was at his side, covering his arm with her hand and shoving him into the car. He could hear her speaking in the car but all he could see and hear echoing in his mind were the camera flashes.

“DEREK!” Laura finally screamed.

Derek’s head shot up to look at her. “Help me.” He whispered.

Laura nodded. “I’m cancelling everything for the next two weeks. We need to get on top of this though.”

Derek nodded. “Need to tell Stiles too.”

“He already knows.” Laura told him. Derek’s confusion must’ve been obvious as she added an explanation. “Lydia texted me to let me know that Stiles was watching and he saw it all. It’s blowing up online.”

“Fuck.” Derek muttered. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

“What do you need?” Laura asked.

“Mom.” Derek told her. “I need Mom.”

Laura nodded. “I’ll get us packed up. We’ll leave tonight.”

***

“Holy shit.” Stiles whispered. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the TV screen. Scott had grabbed the remote and slammed the pause button to stop them from talking and freaking Stiles out but he hadn’t yet noticed that he’d paused it on a zoomed in shot of Derek’s mark. Of Stiles’s mark. Not even his parents have seen the mark on his arm and now the entire world will see its replica on Derek. He couldn’t figure out how to react.

“From now on I’m covering up your mark for every video you film. Your fans cannot see your mark and connect you with Derek.” Lydia declared, already on her phone, probably with Lydia, while Stiles just stared at the screen while the reporters started going off on what they just saw.

Stiles nodded dumbly. “It’s out. I’m done for, aren’t I?”

“No.” Scott said firmly. “We’ll deal with this. We can handle it. We’ll talk to Derek and Laura and we’ll get this sorted out. It’ll all be fine. You’ll see.”

“Laura says her and Derek are heading for their parent’s house tonight.” Lydia announced. “Derek wants to go home right now.”

“I kinda want my mom too.” Stiles whispered.

“Then let’s go home.” Scott declared.

“We have school.” Stiles protested.

“We can leave tomorrow night and come back Monday morning.” Lydia told him. “None of us have Friday classes or Monday morning ones so we’ll have three whole days to be there before we need to come back.”

“See?” Scott grinned. “It could totally work.”

Stiles bit his before smiling and nodding. “I want to go home.”

“Then I’ll call our parents.” Scott told him.

“I’ll do it.” Lydia told him. “You and Stiles need to do something to distract him from this.”

“Sitting right here.” Stiles smirked. “And I’m not deaf.”

“No you aren’t.” Lydia agreed. “But do you really want to be free to think about this all right now?”

“No.” Stiles conceded. “I want to play Halo and/or Mario Kart.”

“Then let’s play.” Scott grinned. “Lydia will handle everything else.”

Stiles nodded. “Thanks Lyds.”

“It’s the least I can do seeing as you managed to not have a panic attack.”

Stiles rolled his eyes at the jab. “I’m not entirely useless when I’m shocked you know.”

“Not entirely useless.” Lydia agreed. “Just occasionally mostly useless.”

“You’re mean to me.” Stiles pouted. “I don’t love you anymore.”

“You’ve loved me since you met me Stiles, I don’t think is strong enough to change that.” Lydia smirked. “Play your games. I’ll call our parents and then me and Ally are going shopping to see what’s going on in fandom circles right now. Specifically Derek’s fandom circles.”

“Thanks Lyds.” Scott grinned.

“Whatever.” Lydia brushed the gratitude off but both boys knew she was just soaking it up. She liked to seem aloof and above needing the thanks but they knew her better than that. “I’ll get it all done and then let you know tonight.”

***

“You ready?” Laura whispered as she turned onto the driveway up to their parent’s house just as the sun was starting to come up over the trees of the forest.

Derek nodded. “I just want one of her hugs and her food.”

“She said she’s making your favorites tonight.” Laura smiled.

Derek smiled. “Mom’s the best.”

“That she is.” Laura nodded, pulling up to the house and parking the car. “It’s the rest of the family I’m more concerned about.”

Derek snorted. “Mom’ll keep them in line. She always does.”

Laura shrugged. “I suppose so.”

“We should go before they come to us.”

“Definitely.” Laura agreed, immediately getting out of the car. “Get the bags with me.”

Derek smiled and waved up to the house instead as he saw the front door opened and his mom stopped outside.

“You two can leave your bags in the car.” Talia called. “Peter and Max will get them.”

Laura immediately abandoned her attempt to get the bags and ran for the house, Derek on her heels. Laura hugged Talia quickly before darting into the house, allowing Talia to look at her son with a sad smile.

“Come here.” She ordered gently, holding her arms open.

Derek smiled gratefully before falling into his mother’s arms and hugging her tightly.

“Are you okay?” She whispered in his ear.

Derek nodded. “Just scared.”

“Well you’re safe here.” She told him. “No one can get to you here.”

“Thanks Mom.” Derek told her, squeezing her tighter for a moment.

“Anything for my little angel.” Talia smiled. “Now come on in. You and I are spending the day on the couch watching movies and staying away from the news channels.”

Derek grinned. “That sounds perfect.”

***

When Stiles and Scott pulled up to Stiles’s old house on Friday morning after driving half the night to get there, Stiles didn’t wait before stumbling out of the car and up the walkway to the porch, where is mom was already waiting for him.

“Hello kotku.” Claudia smiled, hugging her son tightly.

“Hey mamilka.” Stiles sighed into her shoulder.

“I heard you’ve had an interesting few months.”

Stiles nodded. “Don’t wanna talk right now though.”

“Alright.” Claudia nodded back. “Do you want to go take a shower and then go grocery shopping with me? I can’t take your father anymore, he tries to get too much meat.”

Stiles laughed and nodded again. “Yea. Yea that sounds good.”

“Good.” Claudia nodded. “Your friends can unload their stuff and then go see their parents seeing as I doubt they saw them before you all came to me.”

“Never.” Stiles grinned as Scott joined them on the porch.

“Hey mamo.” Scott grinned.

“Hello misiu.” Claudia smiled, pulling the other boy in for a hug as well. “It’s so nice to have both my boys back at home.”

“It’s good to be home, mom.” Stiles smiled. “It’s _very_ good to be home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kotku – Little Cat  
> Misiu – Little bear  
> Mamilka – Mom  
> Mamo – Mom (EDIT: Was previously matka. Thanks Bozrh<3)
> 
> If my Polish is wrong, someone let me know and I'll change it before I use those terms even more and have even more corrections to make.  
> Also, if any of you know how to say 'little wolf' and want to share that information, that'd be fucking awesome. Thanks guys! <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is super late this week but I've got pnemonia and I was hacking my lungs up this weekend so I wasn't quite up to writing. However I think this chapter will make it up to you;)

“Derek!” Laura shouted. “We need to go grocery shopping!”

Derek groaned, getting off the couch. “Do I have to?”

“Yes.” Laura ordered. “You spent all day on the couch with Mom yesterday so today you are getting off your ass and going shopping with me.”

“You’re trying to kill me.” Derek grumbled, slipping his shoes on and grabbing a beanie to cover his hair and sunglasses to cover his eyes outside. He’d already shaved off his recognizable stubble so he looked younger and less noticeable. It was his hometown and while they were proud to have produced such a big star, they were more like a prison than anything with everyone thinking they know him well enough to walk right up and pretend to be friends with him before demanding a picture with him as proof ‘for their friends’ that they really know Derek Hale. And it will only be worse with his new spike in fame with the reveal of his mark.

“I’m trying to take your mind off the press and their reaction to the incident involving an overly grabby and persistent teenage girl.” Laura said.

“You can say it Laura.” Derek sighed. “I don’t care.” He shoved his sleeve up. “Everyone in the fucking world knows what my soulmark looks like and I can’t take it back. So whatever. Say it. I don’t care anymore.”

Laura looked at her brother, sadness clear in her eyes. “Bro…”

“I’m fine, Laura.” Derek sighed, his anger at the world evaporating as fast as it appeared. “I just don’t want to talk about it right now.”

Laura nodded. “Okay. Then you’re coming shopping with me. Don’t argue. We need milk.”

Derek sighed. “Fine. But if I get recognized, I blame you.”

“I can deal with that.” Laura smiled. “Let’s go.”

***

Stiles didn’t know why, but he was very excited to go grocery shopping with his mom. He’s always loved it, loved helping her pick things out or plan dinners for the week as they shop, but he’s never been this excited to spend two hours walking down aisle upon aisle of the grocery store, the one big store in town.

“You seem to be doing well.” Claudia observed.

“I am.” Stiles grinned. “School’s kicking my ass already but it’s my last year so it’s to be expected. And my channel’s nearing hundred and a half thousand subscribers so that’s getting me a bit money on the side as well. So I’m doing okay, despite all of this.”

“When Lydia called me I thought you must be dying.”

“Why?”

“Because it was Lydia calling and not Scott.”

Stiles blushed. “He was distracting me from looking for fan reactions.”

Claudia laughed. “You two are amazing.”

“Thank you.” Stiles grinned.

“I still can’t believe how close you’ve always been.” Claudia sighed. “Ever since he ate your crayon.”

“That was my favorite crayon!” Stiles protested.

“Of course it was.” Claudia smirked. “Because Scott took it.”

Stiles glared at his mom. “Shush.”

Claudia just laughed. “When we’re done here we’re going to stop at the station and see your father. He wants to see you and I need to talk to Carol about the picnic next month. Are you coming this year?”

“I’m hoping to.” Stiles nodded. “I have to look at school stuff.”

“Alright good.” She nodded firmly. “Your father wants to have you here for it. He misses you.”

“I know.” Stiles sighed. “But school, you know?”

“I do and so does he.” Claudia assured him. “We’re just happy you’re happy and doing well.”

Stiles grinned. “I’m living with those three, of course I’m happy.”

“And Derek?”

Stiles face fell. “That’s different.”

“How?”

“Neither one of us trusts the other and we almost never see each other. And when we do see each other, we only make small talk and nothing more.”

“You’re just starting out.” Claudia assured him. “It’ll get better as you get to know each other.”

“It’s been three months of us trying to be friends.” Stiles reminded her.

“Three months into my relationship with your father I threatened to blow his balls off his body with my father’s shotgun if I ever saw him again.” Claudia told him. “Being soulmates does not mean you get along right away. Most people don’t.”

“Unless you’re Scott.”

Claudia laughed, her laugh light and happy. “Scott is one special boy in that respect.”

“He’s a special boy in all respects.” Stiles smirked.

“As are you.” Claudia told him.

“I’m amazing.” Stiles grinned.

“And entirely unique.” Claudia agreed, pulling into the grocery store parking lot. “Now, do you want spaghetti or roast tomorrow night?”

***

“Cucumber or zucchini?” Laura asked.

“I hate you.” Derek sighed.

“ _Derek_.”

“Cucumbers.” Derek told her. “Remember, zucchini isn’t allowed in the house since Jason’s little ‘experimentation’.”

Laura laughed. “Oh yea. I’d forgotten bout that. He’s so weird.”

“He’s our brother.” Derek smirked. “He shares _those_ genetics with you.”

“Oh and he doesn’t with you?”

“Of course not.” Derek grinned. “I take after Mom.”

“In what way are you like our mother _besides_ what you look like because we all look like Mom?”

“Except Max.” Derek corrected.

“Except Maxxy.” Laura conceded. “I still think it’s hilarious Mom and Dad stopped after one looked like Dad.”

“He was lonely.” Derek grinned.

Laura laughed. “Maybe so.”

“Or they just wanted to collect the set.” Derek offered with a smile.

“Of sexualities?” Laura asked.

Derek shrugged. “None of us are the same.”

“That’s true.” Laura nodded. “So does that make you the emotionally constipated one?” She asked with a smirk.

Derek shoved her shoulder and changed the subject. “So we got veggies, what else?”

“We need meat, dairy, and frozen as well as some stuff from the aisles.”

“I’ll grab the milk and meet you at the meat.” Derek offered.

“And I’ll grab the aisle stuff and meet you there.” Laura agreed. “Divide and conquer the list of groceries!”

Derek rolled his eyes as his sister ran off with the cart after her battle cry but he had a smile on his face as he set off at a nice leisurely walk towards the dairy section. A leisurely walk that was stopped in his tracks when he turned the corner to see Stiles, his fucking soulmate, standing in the middle of the aisle talking to a woman about skim versus two percent.

Derek couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, he could barely think. His entire mind was drawn in to the fact that Stiles, his actual soulmate, was standing there in person in the middle of the grocery store in _his hometown_.

“Stiles.” He heard the woman say. “There’s a man staring at you?”

Stiles looked obviously confused and Derek tensed up in anger but before he could turn tail and run Stiles was already turning around to see who his mom was talking about. As soon as he spotted Derek, Stiles froze.

“Why are you here?” He whispered, staring at Derek.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Derek stared.

“Stiles who is this?” Claudia asked.

Stiles opened and closed his mouth a couple times before actually speaking. “This is my-”

Stiles was cut off as Laura rounded the corner behind Derek. “Derek what the hell is taking you so long?! How did you fail at getting milk, butter, and-” Laura stopped shouting when she saw who Derek was staring at. “Eggs.” She finished. “Wow. Okay then.”

“Hi.” The woman smiled. “Kotku, are you going to explain whats going on?”

“Not here.” Laura declared before Stiles could. “Aisle ten. Go.”

Derek moved immediately, wanting a quick break before he actually had to talk to Stiles. He was terrified about what Stiles’s reaction to what happened after the interview was going to be. Laura was right behind him, grabbing his shoulder before he could start freaking out.

“Don’t dance out on me now.” She whispered. “We knew you were going to have to see him and talk to him.”

“Not in the middle of a grocery store in fucking _Beacon Hills_!” Derek hissed back. “No one but old people live here!”

“And us.” Stiles smiled, coming into the aisle.

Derek stiffened. “Stiles.”

“Hey Derek.” Stiles smiled. “How ya been?”

“I’m sorry.” Derek told him quickly. “I’m so sorry I let it be seen.”

“Stop.” Stiles told him. “It was going to happen someday. It just happened sooner than we hoped it would.”

“Kotku.” The woman pressed. “Is this-?”

“Mom, this is Derek Hale. My soulmate.” Stiles introduced.

“Ah.” She nodded. “Well I’m Claudia, Stiles’s mother.” She grinned. “It’s nice to meet you, Derek.”

Derek’s eyes went wide. This was Stiles’s mother. His soulmate’s mother. Holy shit.

Claudia could see the wheels turning in Derek’s head and the freak-out coming and she just laughed. “Derek, sweetheart, stop freaking out. You are the soulmate of my kotku, I will always love you as he does.”

“Moooomm.” Stiles groaned.

Claudia smiled. “I’m going to go finish shopping, you two talk about whatever you need to and then come find me. Oh, and Derek, you’re invited to dinner tomorrow night at six if you wish to come. I won’t make you but I know my husband and I would love to meet our son’s soulmate officially.”

Derek blushed bright red but nodded. “Thank you Mrs. Stilinski.”

“Call me Claudia.” She smiled fondly. She kissed her son’s cheek before leaving, leaving Stiles blushing in her wake.

“I’ll leave too.” Laura smiled. “Derek, meet me at the register when you’re done.”

Both boys watched her go before they’re alone.

“Sorry about that.” Stiles blushed. “You don’t have to come tomorrow night.”

“I’d be fine with it.” Derek admitted. “I have to meet them someday, right?”

“Are you sure you want to after what happened?”

“I am sorry about that.”

“You already said that.” Stiles smirked.

“I am.” Derek insisted. “I was supposed to keep mine hidden, keep _this_ hidden, until both of us were ready.”

“I don’t blame you.” Stiles smiled. “I blame that girl for tearing off your sleeve and showing it to everyone. I don’t blame you for not having it covered under your tight long-sleeve shirt that you literally never even made a motion to roll up. You did everything you could but you didn’t know what was going to happen. None of us did.”

“I still feel bad.” Derek sighed.

“Well stop.” Stiles ordered.

“I need to make it up to you.” Derek insisted.

“Then you want to come to dinner tomorrow night and we can do lunch with your parents on Sunday?”

“Deal.” Derek nodded. “I’ll have Laura take the others out so it’s just us four.”

“Awesome.”

“So, see you tomorrow?”

“You know where I live?”

“Everyone at Beacon Hills High knows where the Sheriff lives.” Derek smirked.

“That is true.” Stiles nodded. “But I didn’t know you went there?”

Derek shrugged. “I’ve kept my past hidden from the media the best I can. Most everybody in town gets that I want somewhere to come back to and be myself. I still have to disguise myself the best I can but the at least don’t sell stories of my childhood to the media.”

“That sucks dude.” Stiles frowned.

Derek shrugged again. “I’m used to it.”

“You shouldn’t have to be.” Stiles declared.

“I don’t care anymore.” Derek told him. “I just don’t want them finding out about you.”

Stiles nodded. “I don’t know if I could do that.” He admitted. “Getting recognized from Youtube is bad enough.”

“Laura and I are doing everything we can to make sure you’re safe.” Derek promised.

“I know.” Stiles smiled. “And because of that, we should probably go before someone decides they need bleach and sees us.”

Derek nodded. “See you tomorrow?”

“At six.” Stiles confirmed.

“I’ll be there.” Derek blushed a little.

*****

Stiles shot to his feet when he heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll get it!” He called, rushing down the stairs to get the door before his mom, or worse, his _dad_ , could get it. He tripped a little in the front hallway but managed to wrench the door open without falling on his face to reveal a nervous-looking Derek.

“Hey!” Stiles grinned.

“Hey.” Derek smiled back, holding out the flowers in his hands. “For your mom. And I brought whiskey for your dad. I didn’t know what else he liked.”

“He’ll love it.” Stiles smiled, knowing this was because Derek was scared of his dad. He already knew about Derek’s juvenile record, not that his dad _or_ Derek actually know about him knowing about that.

“That’s good.” Derek gave a tight-lipped smile.

“Dude, relax.” Stiles ordered. “It’s just my parents and we aren’t even in any sort of relationship for them to threaten you over. They just want to meet you.”

“Doesn’t mean they don’t hate me.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Come on. You’ll survive. I’ll protect you. Laura would kill me if I returned you to her tonight with bruises.”

Derek chuckled. “She wouldn’t. Sasha would though.”

“I don’t know whether or not to be scared of that one.” Stiles told him. “Erica makes her sound terrifying but you always comment on how sweet she is.”

“She’s terrifying when she needs to be and sweet when that’s what needs to be used.” Derek told him.

“Sounds like another woman I know.” John Stilinski smirked, stepping out of the kitchen as they walked down the front hall.

“I heard that!” Claudia called out to them. “And hello again Derek!”

“Hi Mrs. Stilinski.” Derek called back.

“Derek.” John nodded.

“Sheriff.” Derek nodded back, looking embarrassed.

Stiles groaned. “Oh my god we are not doing this all night. Derek, I know my dad arrested you when you were in high school so stop freaking out. And Dad, you will _not_ being using that against him. Got it?”

Derek spluttered. “You know?!”

“Stiles.” His dad glared.

“I didn’t hack the system!” Stiles immediately declared. “I just remember seeing him in the station one day when I was in middle school!”

“Mhmm.” John hummed. “We’ll take about this later.”

Stiles grimaced.

Derek looked confused. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” John told him. “Come on. Let’s eat before it gets cold.”

“I’m not even done getting ready John.” Claudia smiled as they stepped into the kitchen.

“What do you need help with?” Derek asked, immediately stepping forward.

Claudia seemed surprised for a moment before pointing at the over. “There’s garlic bread in there that needs to be turned over and seasoned. Can you do that?”

“Absolutely.” Derek nodded, moving to the oven. The oven glove and the garlic seasoning was already on the counter so it was an easy job to do.

“Stiles, John, go set the table.” Claudia ordered, pointing at the stack of plates and silverware on the small kitchen table.

Both Stilinski boys nodded and did as they were told. Claudia smiled at Derek.

“They’re not allowed to help in the kitchen.” She smiled.

“Oh, sorry, was I not supposed to either?” Derek asked, wide-eyed, scared he’d done something wrong.

Claudia laughed. “You seem like you can cook, Derek. Is that right?”

“Somewhat.” Derek nodded.

“Well those boys couldn’t cook to save their souls.” Claudia told him. “That’s why they don’t help. Especially with garlic bread. They always douse the bread in the salt and it comes out too strong for anyone to eat.”

Derek laughed. “Sounds like a bad idea to have them help then.”

“Exactly.” Claudia agreed. “They set the table and chop things fine but anything with actual seasoning or cooking is done by me so it actually turns out edible. John grills though. He can do that pretty well.”

“That’s good.” Derek nodded, putting the garlic bread back in the oven now that he was done. “Anything else you need me to do?”

“Tell me what your intentions are with my son?” Claudia smiled.

Derek froze. “What?”

“Tell me.” Claudia insisted, her smile reminding Derek of Sasha when the woman gets an idea for wardrobe or make-up in her mind and refuses to let go. It’s a terrifying smile to have directed at you.

“I-I don’t have any intentions.” Derek stuttered out.

“That’s not true.”

Derek sighed. “I want him to be safe.”

“Safe from who? You or others?”

“Both.” Derek declared. “My agency would do anything for publicity and I will do anything in my power to keep your son away from them. They’re already on my ass about using the revealing of my mark to bring attention to the _Warrior_ movie and they won’t stop till they get. The more in the spotlight I am, the more money they make off of me and that’s their only concern. I’m nothing but a tool to use to make money to them.”

“That’s awful.”

Derek shrugged. “My contract with them ends at the end of this year and then I’ll be free of them. Laura’s already informed them that we will not be renewing my contract and she’s looking for new agencies to sign on with. Everyone wants me so we’ve got the pick of the litter really.”

“Why is everyone after you?” Claudia asked. “I know the _Warriors_ film was popular but I didn’t know it was that popular?”

Derek bit his lip. “I’m not supposed to tell anybody this but I have a feeling you won’t tell anyone. The third book’s been split into two movies and both are expected to bring in _millions_ of dollars, a portion of which goes to the agent that has me signed on when the movie begins filming and it will _not_ be the one I’m currently with, for all that I hate that they’re already going to get _The Second Sword_ ’s profits. Whoever I sign with at the New Year is going to make _a lot_ of money off of me. I’d prefer it to be someone that I like and treats me well.”

“I’m sure you’ll find one that works.” Claudia smiled. “Now tell me about the rest of your intentions.”

Derek glanced at the door to the hall, down which Stiles and his dad had wandered.

“Don’t worry about them.” Claudia told him. “Once they set the table they aren’t allowed to come in here again and bug me. They’re still in the dining room.”

Derek still bit his lip before sighing. “He’s a great guy.”

“That tells me nothing, Derek.”

“I like him.” Derek admitted. “But it’s only been three months since we had our talk thing and decided to be friends and I’ve had a lot of shit happen in my life so I’m not ready for another relationship right now. And he’s fine with that so we’re fine.”

“And in the future?” Claudia pressed. “What happens if you fall in love and he doesn’t?”

Derek thought for a moment before shrugging. “I won’t push him. I’m not in love with him now, I just want him to be safe but if I do fall and he doesn’t, I’d happily stay friends. Anything’s better than not seeing him in person for a month but watching his videos and seeing him smiling and happy without me.”

Claudia smiled. “Good. That’s what a mother wants to hear.”

Derek blushed.

“I expect your mother will make sure the same thing of my boy.” Claudia mused out loud. “However you should know that Stiles will _never_ push you for something you don’t want to give. He’s had problems before and he won’t do that to _anyone_.”

“I wouldn’t either.” Derek told her. “I know what it feels like and the hell that comes afterwards. I won’t hurt him. I promise.”

Claudia looked at him and Derek could tell she was analyzing what he’d just said before she smiled. “Good. Then grab the bread out of the oven and put it in the basket there to take into the dining room. I’ll bring in this pot and you can come back in and get the sauce if you’d like?”

“I’d be delighted to help.” Derek smiled, already doing as she’d asked.

Claudia smiled and grabbed the pot of noodles, leading the way to the dining room.

“I’m keeping this one.” Claudia declared as they walked in.

“Why?” John asked, getting up to pull out his wife’s chair.

“He knows how to cook and he helps without complaint.” Claudia smiled. “Two things I couldn’t even _raise_ someone to do apparently.”

Stiles flushed bright red. “Mom.” He groaned.

Derek smiled as he set the basket down before turning and leaving again.

“What did you say to him?” Stiles demanded as soon as Derek was gone.

“We just had a conversation, kotku.” Claudia smiled at her son. “Nothing bad at all.”

Stiles focused his gaze on her, obviously not believing her.

Claudia just smiled back at her son as Derek walked back in with the pot of sauce for the spaghetti. He stopped at the door when he felt the tension.

“Everything okay?” He asked, concerned.

“Everything’s fine.” Claudia smiled. “Come eat, wilczku.”

Derek didn’t know what she’d just said to him, but he found himself smiling and moving to do as she asked. He’d ask Stiles later. If he remembered.

***

Dinner went amazingly well. John didn’t bring up Derek’s arrest record, Claudia didn’t threateningly smile at Derek anymore, Stiles actually managed to relax and have fun, and Derek was blown away at how close the three of them were to each other. There were plenty of times that one of them would be looking for something on the table and another would just hand it over without having to ask what they were looking for. It was amazing. And perfect. Everything was going well. Until Derek’s phone rang.

“Laura?” Derek answered, confused. His sister had promised to leave him alone tonight so he could meet Stiles’s parents in peace.

Stiles looked up in confusion as well from where he was drying the dishes his father handed him as the cleaned up.

“You need to turn on the TV to that asshole’s show.” Laura told him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Jon fucking Relhead.” Laura spat. “Turn his show on. Now.”

“I’m at the Stilinski’s still.” Derek told her.

“Good.” She told him. “It involves Stiles too. Just go turn it on and everything will make sense. I have a few calls to make.”

Before Derek could say anything else, Laura hung up and left him confused.

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked.

“We need to turn on Jon Relhead’s show.” Derek told him. “Laura made it sound like life or death.”

Stiles glanced at his dad.

“Go.” The man waved. “I’ll finish up here. Your mother’s in there so just explain before you change the channel.”

Stiles smiled gratefully and ran out of the room, Derek on his heels.

“Mom we need the TV.” Stiles declared as they entered the living room.

“Why?” Claudia asked, already handing her son the remote.

“Laura just called me and told me I need to see something.” Derek explained as Stiles changed the channel.

Both of them sat down on the couch as the show came off commercial.

“And we’re back!” Jon grinned on the screen. “Hello everybody, if you’re just joining us then allow me to give the context of the biggest story we’ve ever uncovered here at _Celebrity Insider_ , the identity of the soulmate of the one and only, Derek Hale.”

“What?!” Stiles exclaimed. He looked at Derek. “Did you?!”

“Never!” Derek protested. “We signed NDA’s! We couldn’t’ve told! And I wouldn’t have even if I could!”

“Both of you relax.” Claudia ordered. “Half the stuff on this show is a lie. We might be fine.”

Both boys nodded, calming down.

“Everyone remembers when just a couple of days, Derek Hale’s mark was revealed _live_ outside this very studio by an overzealous fan who ripped the sleeve off of Derek’s shirt. Derek himself has said nothing on this topic to anyone, taking a short weekend hiatus from all interviews to, according to his manager, ‘recollect himself and talk to his partner’. None of us thought that just a few short days later we would know the identity of the lucky person with this irreplaceable and unbreakable bond to such a big star.”

“No.” Stiles gasped. “They can’t have.”

“Exactly.” Derek nodded. “They can’t have. They’re lying. That’s all this is.” Derek wasn’t sure if he was speaking for the benefit of Stiles or himself but at least the words seemed to help Stiles a bit.

“Everything’s going to be fine, kotku.” Claudia told her son firmly, like there wasn’t any doubt in the world.

Stiles nodded but he was still biting his lip.

“Who is it you ask?” Jon continued with a smirk. “Well, why don’t you ask her yourself seeing as she’s here, in studio, to tell us all about her bond with Derek Hale.”

“What?!” Stiles exclaimed.

Derek grabbed Stiles’s arm. “Wait. They said her. They’re _wrong_.”

“That’s worse!” Stiles decided.

“How?” Derek asked.

Stiles was about to answer when the screen finally changed and they both stared. The show was obviously hiding the identity of the girl claiming to be Derek’s bond mate with the shadows hiding her from the camera and the voice disguiser as she started speaking.

“Hello Jon.” She said. “And hello world. As Jon said, I am the bond mate of Derek Hale. And here’s my proof.” She stuck her hand out, letting her left forearm fall into the light for Derek’s mark to be on screen.

Derek growled as the fake mark was bared to the camera. Faking a soulmark is a grievance offense and he wanted Laura to find this girl and tear her apart. That mark belonged to him and Stiles. No one else.

“Relax.” Stiles whispered with a smirk. “I don’t like it any more than you.”

Derek sighed but calmed down.

“I’m sure many of you are asking why Derek and I aren’t coming out of the shadows together.” The girl on the screen continued. “And the reason is that Derek and I are not in a relationship. We were, a long time ago, but he has since pushed me out of his life and _my_ life, even turning my own family against me. He is not a nice person and I am sick and tired of everyone thinking he is. So this is me, stepping out of the shadows and into the pure light of the full moon.”

Derek’s heart clenched and his breath caught. He recognized the panic attack as it started but he couldn’t concentrate enough to stop it, even when he could see Stiles’s face swimming before him, lips moving as his bondmate, his _real_ bond mate, tried to help him calm down. He couldn’t calm down. He wasn’t able to do anything but hear were those words, ‘the pure light of the full moon’ echoing in his head as memory after memory of hearing those words from a woman’s mouth as she manipulated and used him for her own gain flashed through his mind. The woman he still had nightmares about. The reason he can’t love Stiles like he should.

_Kate Argent._


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry about vanishing on you all last week. I was actually being admited to the hospital this time last week so it's not entirely my fault. Don't worry, I'm doing fine now. I've been out since Thursday. Everything's going great now and hopefully I'm going to get this fic back on track soon. Anyways, thanks for all your patience and worry this last week! You're all amazing!
> 
> Also, this is a ****TRIGGER WARNING!!**** chapter contains discussion of rape as well emotional and mental abuse that took place in the past. Please be careful as you proceed. Read end notes for more detailed warning.

Stiles didn’t know what was happening. All he knew was that something that woman on the screen said triggered Derek into having a panic attack. Stiles tried to help but he nothing he said seemed to be getting through as Derek sank lower and lower into the panic before shooting to his feet and racing from the house.

Stiles looked at his mom in worried confusion. “Ma?”

“After him, kotku!” Claudia exclaimed. “You’re his soulmate! Help him!”

Stiles nodded before getting up and following Derek from the house, dialing Laura as he ran. He was suddenly grateful his dad tried to teach him how to hunt. Stiles had never been able to master the being silent part but he was ace at the tracking part, a fact he was very happy about as he followed his soulmate into the woods.

“Stiles!” Laura exclaimed when she picked up. “Did Derek-”

“Have a panic attack and run out of my house and into the preserve like his ass was on fire and the devil himself was on Derek’s heels?” Stiles finished. “Yea. I’m chasing after him now.”

“Fuck.” Laura groaned. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. We were supposed to be done with her!”

“Done with who?” Stiles asked, changing course as Derek’s path swung off the current trail and onto another.

“Kate Argent.” Laura growled.

“Argent?” Stiles repeated. “I know an Argent.”

“Allison.” Laura confirmed. “Kate’s her aunt.”

“Allison would never-”

“I know.” Laura cut him off. “Everyone in her family disowned her after what she did.”

“What’d she do?”

Stiles could hear Laura’s hesitation on the other end of the phone. “Find my brother and ask him. It’s not my story to tell.”

Stiles sighed. “Okay. Is there anywhere out here you think he’d go?”

“The lake.” Laura answered. “Our family used to go out there all the time when Derek and I were younger to have family bonding days. It was mom’s idea and we all pretended to hate it but those are some of the best memories I have of my brother. He’d head there.”

Stiles nodded. “Okay. Only around a mile to go then. I’ll call you later and let you know we’re all okay.”

“Thank you.” Laura sighed. Stiles could hear the exhaustion in her voice. “I need to go handle the fallout from this. His agency is _not_ going to be happy.”

“Okay. Talk to you later.”

“Bye Stiles.”

Stiles hung up, slipped the phone back in his pocket, and kept running. He needed to catch up with Derek and make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.

***

When Stiles reached the lake, he didn’t see Derek at first before looking up and seeing Derek sitting at the edge of the cliff people jump off of to prove their bravery. In his mind he knew there was no way the drop would kill him but his heart still clenched _hard_ at the sight. He didn’t want to lose Derek.

Stiles clambered up the back of the cliff quickly and then walked to Derek.

“Hey there.” Stiles whispered as he walked up so as to not scare him.

“Hey.” Derek whispered back, head bowed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Stiles told him, sitting down next to him at the cliff edge. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I freaked out and then ran out.” Derek reminded him. “Not exactly the best thing to be doing.”

“So?” Stiles asked. “You had a panic attack. That’s not your fault. And according to your sister, there’s a pretty big reason for it. And that makes it okay.”

“You called Laura?”

Stiles nodded. “I didn’t know what was happening I just knew you seemed to be hurting and Laura’s the only person I know who would know what to do.”

“She told you to come after me.”

“Actually my mom did that.” Stiles grinned.

“I like your mom.” Derek admitted shyly.

“I like her too.” Stiles said proudly.

Derek snorted softly.

“There’s a smile.” Stiles grinned. “Now, do you wanna talk about what just happened?”

Derek bit his lip. “I have a very…traumatic background.”

Stiles nodded. “The story of why you rejected me when we first met?”

Derek nodded. “Yea.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“I think I need to.” Derek told him.

“Then take your time.” Stiles told him, bumping shoulders. “We’ve got all the time in the world. Or at least till that sun up there goes down in like an hour and we’re left in the dark in the middle of the forest.”

Derek chuckled. “Okay.” He seemed to steel himself up for it, getting ready to talk.

“It all started with Kate Argent.” Derek began. “When I was seventeen, she waltzed into my life with a big smile and even bigger promises. She said she could ‘make me a star’ and I’d get millions of dollars and my life would be _perfect_.”

Stiles could already start to see where this was going. It was a story as old as Hollywood and one he always hated. To think Derek lived it almost made him _angry_.

“She took everything about me and changed it.” He whispered. “My hair, my wardrobe, my personality, everything. By the time I graduated high school and it was time to leave with her, my family had gotten worried. They all told me not to go but I didn’t listen. I’ve regretted it every day since.” Derek took a deep breath. “She took me to casting directors that said I’d only be even _considered_ for the role if I did them a ‘favor’.”

“Fuck.” Stiles couldn’t stop the gasp from escaping his mouth. Even without Derek saying it, he knew what Kate forced him to do.

Derek’s mouth twitched in a smirk. “Yea. She convinced me that it was the only way to get a big break and that everyone does it. I can’t even tell you how many there were. I think I stopped caring after the first couple months. And she watched every single time. She was always there, just _watching_.”

“What happened?”

“I got away.” Derek smiled a little through the tears starting to form in his eyes as he recalled everything that happened. “A few months in I realized that maybe what was happening wasn’t actually supposed to be happening and I told Laura. She found a loophole in the contract I signed with the bitch and I got the hell out of Hollywood. I came all the way back here and fell into my mother’s arms sobbing from everything that had happened. It was bad.” Derek choked out a little sob. “And then she came back.”

“To Beacon Hills?”

Derek nodded. “She found me in the grocery store and started yelling at me, spewing profanities and insults and everything you can possibly imagine just poured out of her mouth. I couldn’t do anything.” Derek’s breathing was starting to get more labored as he remembered. “I couldn’t breathe, my heart was trying to jump out of my chest, and I could barely see. But my hearing stayed clear as I listened to everything she spewed at me.” Derek’s eyes were starting to glaze over as he slipped into the memory.

“Derek!” Stiles raised his voice a little in panic, anchoring Derek as he started to sink back into the memory of his panic.

“Sorry.” Derek whispered.

“Stop apologizing for things that aren’t your fault.” Stiles told him.

Derek smiled a little. “She only stopped when my big brother, James, laid her out on the floor with a sucker punch and kicked her to keep her down. He brought me back out of the panic and calmed me down. My mom had her arrested for harassment but the best we could get was a restraining order. She broke it and broke into our house with the aim of killing my entire family while we slept. Luckily my dad sleeps light and we all survived. She was arrested for attempted murder but she skipped out on bail and I haven’t seen her since.”

“Until today?”

“Yea.” Derek nodded.

“How’d you know it was her?”

“The phrase she said. ‘The pure light of the full moon.’ She used to say it all the time when she talked about the ‘light that shone down on us and blessed us with good fortune.’ It was a bunch of bullshit.” Derek spat. “And now she’s _back_.” He growled. “She’s back and still fucking up my life!”

Stiles laid a hand on Derek’s shoulder, surprised a bit when Derek leaned into his touch. “It’s okay.” Stiles whispered. “Laura will deal with it.”

“She shouldn’t have to.” Derek told him. “This is all my fault.”

“It is not.”

“It is.” Derek insisted. “If I hadn’t fallen in love with her when I was seventeen, none of this wouldn’t have happened. My sister would still be a happy woman with her soulmate instead of the stressed-out, always-trying-to-save-me person she is right now, my dad wouldn’t have a limp because she sank a blade into his thigh, my little brother wouldn’t have nightmares about a woman in white coming to kill us all, and I, fuck, I wouldn’t be so fucked up in the head that I can’t love you like you deserve.” There were tears in Derek’s voice to match the tears in his eyes.

Stiles only hesitated for a moment before he slid his hand on Derek’s shoulder across his back to his other shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. “It’s not your fault.” He whispered into Derek’s hair. “None of it is your fault. It’s hers. She manipulated you. She used you. You aren’t at fault. _She is_.”

Derek sniffed a bit, controlling his tears before hugging Stiles back, setting his head on Stiles’s shoulder.

Stiles held on to his victorious smile for a long moment before he hid it away and pulled back. “Can I tell you my story?”

Derek’s eyes widened. “Just because I told mine doesn’t-”

“No.” Stiles told him. “I want to. Can I?”

Derek nodded slowly.

“Good.” Stiles nodded. “Mine’s sort of similar to yours.” He started. “When I was just getting started on Youtube, freshman year of college, I was obsessed with a guy called PatAMatt.  It’s a dumb name but he was funny and extremely popular. He was basically a Youtube celebrity. And I convinced myself he was my soulmate so I sent him a message and asked him to meet. It turned out that he was just an hour away in Montello and we set up a meeting at a tiny coffee shop. We didn’t end being soulmates when we shook hands at the start but by the end he’d convinced me it was a fluke and that we were meant to be. I was so naïve and I so wanted it to be true that I went along with it and started dating him, despite Scott telling me not to.”

“What happened?” Derek whispered.

“I wasn’t comfortable around him.” Stiles told him. “I liked kissing well enough but whenever hands started going under shirts, I got uncomfortable and put a stop to it. I never knew why I was so uncomfortable until later.” Stiles took a deep breath. “As you can probably guess, he didn’t like that I wasn’t putting out so one night, he drugged me during dinner and he raped me.”

Derek’s eyes widened and Stiles could see the worry.

Stiles shrugged. “I don’t remember the whole thing. But what I do remember shows up in dreams quite a bit.”

“That’s why Scott and the girls didn’t like me at the start.” Derek realized.

“It wasn’t just because it was you.” Stiles assured him. “It’s celebrities as a whole. They’re protective. And for good reason.”

“I see that.”

Stiles barked out a laugh. “Not yet you don’t.”

Derek was confused. “What?”

“Lydia and I have a bit of a…connection from all of this.” Stiles told him. “We’re both from here, Allison and Scott too, but the girls are two years older and both accelerated through high school so we’d never met before. Our fans think we met through Youtube but in actuality, Lydia was also a victim of this guy.”

“She was?” Derek asked, shocked.

Stiles nodded. “That’s part of the reason why she’s so protective of me, even now. She remembers how it was. He tried it with her too, but she was always smarter than me. She got out of there without too much trauma. When she heard he was arrested she demanded to be part of the trial. She was a witness and because she graduated high school and undergrad early, she was already a law student. My father couldn’t say no after he realized that her experiences with that asshole made her the perfect person to pull me out of panic attacks when I had to make my statements. She knows all the tricks it takes to calm me down.”

“I would’ve thought Scott would be the one for that.” Derek told him.

Stiles shrugged. “Scott’s good at distracting me from things and keeping me from panicking but when I do start, he has, or at least he had, a habit of freaking out as well. He didn’t know what to do and she did. It became easy. And then when Scott met Allison and they found out they were soulmates, well that was the end of that. The four of us became inseparable. We made up a story to tell our fans on Youtube so they didn’t know about how it really happened and life went on.”

“What happened to Matt?”

“Matt was arrested on rape and assault for me, attempted rape and assault on Lydia, and resisting arrest and assaulting an officer when they brought him in to the jail.” Stiles told him. “He’s in the system as a sex offender and currently locked up at the Calipatria State Prison for a _very_ long sentence. He shouldn’t have tried that with a Sheriff’s son.”

Derek smiled a little. “Can I ask you something?”

“I don’t have any more secrets.” Stiles told him.

“Not like that.” Derek shook his head. He held out his left arm, sleeve covering the mark. “What do you think it means?”

Stiles looked down at the sleeve covering Derek’s arm. He didn’t need to see the mark to know what it looks like, having stared at his own plenty long, but he wanted to see it if they were going to talk about it so he shoved his own sleeve up his arm and stuck it out. “We’re a pair of pretty birds.” He smirked.

Derek laughed, taking his cue from Stiles and pushing up his sleeve to reveal the mark on his arm. “We’re phoenixes.” He whispered, staring at the marks. This was the first time he’d seen the mark on Stiles’s arm. He knew the marks matched, they were soulmates after all, but he’d never actually seen the stark, black mark on Stiles’s skin.

Stiles nodded pensively, staring down at the matching birds of fire gracing their arms. “That we are.”

“What does it mean?”

“It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“You know as well as I do that all marks mean something, whether for the future or the bond between the pair. They all have a meaning of some sorts.”

“Maybe we’re meant to die together in fire.” Stiles mused.

“And rise from the ashes?” Derek smirked.

“Maybe.” Stiles shrugged. “I don’t know what the future holds. None of us do.”

“But we’ll go through it together?” Derek asked, suddenly unsure.

Stiles smiled. “I just told you the story of the worst part of my life and you did the same. I think we’ll be okay.”

“I hope so.” Derek told him. I’ve almost gotten used to your strange text messages.”

Stiles laughed. “Dude you’re only a few months into this friendship. Wait till finals week where I don’t sleep for three days straight. Then you can talk to me about getting weird messages.”

Derek laughed. “I look forward to it.”

“You should prepare yourself for it.” Stiles told him. “If you’re planning on sticking around that long.”

“Definitely.” Derek confirmed. “Definitely sticking around.”

“That’s good.”

“Even if I do want to kill you sometimes.”

“That’s okay.” Stiles grinned. “My mom told me yesterday that three months into her relationship with my dad she threatened to shoot his balls off with a shotgun.”

“Really?” Derek asked, surprised.

Stiles nodded. “I asked dad. He said it was true.”

“Well then I’d say we’re doing pretty good so far.”

“Yes, I believe we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Complete Trigger Warning:  
> Derek discusses his abuse at the hands of Kate Argent. She manipulated him into having sex with others and then verbally attacked him when he left her. She also broke into his house with the intent of killing his family and him.  
> Stiles also discusses his abuse at the hands of Matt Daehler. Matt manipulated him into a relationship and then drugged and raped him when Stiles refused to have sex with him as he was uncomfortable with Matt still.
> 
> If there is something else I need to do for this, someone let me know. I am not 100% good at tagging and warnings yet so let me know if there is something else I need to do to help you guys.

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out with me on [tumblr](http://perfectalphadouchebag.tumblr.com/)!


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